LEWISTON — Stephen Miller pledges to make himself available to residents if he’s elected to the City Council.

“Most councilors, I think, are like secret agents,” Miller said. “If you have an issue, how do you reach them? Wouldn’t it be better if they had a candidate that’s approachable, with a Twitter account or Facebook?”

Joline Landry Beam said she would bring a historical perspective. She grew up here, moved away and came back in the early 1990s.

“I think we are on the cusp of breaking into a really great city,” Beam said. “I think it’s a great city. I loved it when I was a kid, I love it now. But I really want to be part of its future.”

Brian Wood, the third candidate for the seat, said he’s running tor make it easier for new businesses.

“It takes a lot to open a new business anywhere,” he said. “They don’t need to get a lot of flack from fire codes, city codes. I’d like to see that get a lot easier.”

The three candidates seek to replace outgoing Councilor Mark Cayer in Ward 6.

All three agreed that education is a top spending priority.

“Not only for children, but for adults,” Wood said. “Literacy. We need to help people get jobs or show them how to do that.”

Miller agreed.

“We are so far behind the rest of the world with education, we need to catch up,” he said.

And all three said they were leery of a plan to charge for trash collections. Miller said it’s just a way to get more money.

“I’m not in favor of this, calling it a fee,” he said. “Call it a tax. That it is. And I don’t think it will bring down spending because nothing ever brings down costs.”

Beam said she thinks it’s not needed.

“There would be hardship on some people and encourage people to dump trash in public,” she said. “I think what we need to do is find ways to encourage people to recycle. I do think there is savings in that, so we need to investigate how to get people to do that.”

Beam said she doesn’t presume to know everything.

“I don’t want to go into the departments and tell them ‘This is how save money,'” she said. “I don’t want to micromanage the departments. There might be ways we can save money and we can try to find them.”

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