York-Ogunquit Election News
Two vie for District 5 seat on the York County Commission
By Larry Favinger
YORK - York Democrat Gloria Layman and Eliot Republican Jeff Furbish are facing off for the District 5 seat on the York County Commission.JEFF FURBISH is seeking his first term on the County Commission. Timing is everything in politics, especially when a relative newcomer to the public arena is deciding when to make the effort to jump. For Furbish, that means this year in the race for York County Commissioner from District 5.
Furbish, who lives in Eliot with his wife and two children, wants to serve out the remaining two years of the term of the late Bill Layman of York.
"Politics is very interesting and rewarding," said Furbish, a past president of the York Rotary. "I really think I can help make this a more livable area."
By livable, he explains, he means keeping the area affordable for everyone.
"I want my children to grow up in the same town I did," he said.
Furbish feels his time on the Eliot Budget Committee and his experience as a small business owner give him insight that would be valuable at the county level. Furbish owns and operates Noel's Café and Coffeehouse in the Maine Outlet Mall in Kittery.
Furbish said regionalization is a topic of discussion in the state and he favors certain aspects of it where it could address a duplication of services.
"I think county government can play a role in implementation," he said. "Our government, I feel, is getting petty top heavy (and regionalization could be a way to trim that down.) It might be in our best interests to help that go forward."
He said the idea of combining school district supervision could save money and those funds could go back into the classroom.
As far as county taxes are concerned, Furbish noted that in his mind everything is on the table because of the increasing pressure on local taxpayers.
"I'm willing to look at anything," he said, in an effort to "more fairly spread the tax burden."
This could include a use fee system for some county services.
"I'm just a regular guy," he said. "I have no agenda."
He said he wants to do what is best for his family and others in the county, and as a small business owner he's been on the top and on the bottom and has learned to stay within his budget - a lesson he said he thinks more politicians should learn.
Furbish wants to bring a fresh, new perspective to county government, to get more people involved and to "create a better dialogue between the commissioner and his district towns" by establishing regular meetings with representatives of those communities.
Although the Eliot Budget Committee was Furbish's first foray into political life, he has been active in other causes as a member of the Child Abuse Prevention Council of York County's board of directors, a past board member of the Gateway Chamber of Commerce and the York Chamber of Commerce, past president of York Rotary and the York Restaurant Association and a founding board member of the York Downtime Teen Center.
He has been a small business owner in Maine for over 10 years and organized fund-raisers to benefit The Dream Factory of York, the Center for Wildlife, St. Charles Children's Home of Rochester, N.H., and local people in need.
GLORIA LAYMAN was appointed by Gov. John Baldacci to the post in September, 2005, after her husband Bill, a commissioner and former York selectman, passed away.
"I'm just running now to fill out my husband's term and then I think I'll relax," she said.
She praised the work of the county during the Mother's Day flooding that stuck the coast and York in particular. She said the York Emergency Management Agency was involved from the start and that involvement "entailed a lot more than one might think. … It was an example of people pulling together."
As a longtime resident of York, Layman is acutely aware of the town's interest in the county budget and its impact on local property taxes.
As a member of the commission working on the spending plan last year she helped trim it by about $3.2 million to meet state mandated limits.
"We did that with the help of all the departments involved," she said. "We got it done."
She said with the federal and state government cutting back on spending in many areas it is up to the county to keep a watchful eye on where the responsibility for maintaining services lies.
"We're trying to work to keep the taxes down," she said, "without cutting services more this year."
She's aware of the regionalization talks and the proposals coming from some quarters to combine school districts that now stand alone. One of those proposals would put York in a grouping with Marshwood and Kittery. Layman worries about that impact on the students in that some may have to travel greater distances than they do now to attend classes.
"I love York," she said, and she has lived here since she was nine years old and been a part of the community life for many of those.
Bill Layman was involved in many projects for the town and county over the years and there are many that are not yet fully complete.
"There are a lot of things I would like to see through and implement," she said.
Layman has served as president, vice president, secretary and treasurer of the York Democratic Committee; she is on the executive board of the Seacoast Shipyard Association; she has been president and vice president of the York American Legion Post Auxiliary, and is a member of the York Veterans of Foreign Wars Post auxiliary, a member of the York American Association of Retired Persons, on the board of the Area on Aging Council, a Democratic voter registrar and a member of the Alliance for Retired Americans.
