In the 2026 Waterville mayoral election, Republican Matthew Boulerice is challenging Democrat incumbent Michael Morris. Boulerice aims to focus on housing, downtown, and community.
Waterville operates under a council-manager form of government, where the City Council sets policy, and the City Manager oversees daily administration. Boulerice says the mayor’s role goes beyond making municipal decisions.
“The mayor’s role is akin to being the face of those decisions,” he said. “You’re the one who’s out there making the links in the community. You’re the one who’s articulating what those decisions are, why they’re important to Waterville, and how we’re going to get them done.”
Originally from Scarborough, Maine, Boulerice moved to Waterville about seven years ago. He got into real estate brokerage straight out of high school and started a redevelopment company in 2015. Since then, he has worked on roughly 150 redevelopment projects in the Waterville area.
“I never had any ambition at all to get into local politics,” Boulerice said. “Waterville was a town you just sort of wanted to be a part of.”
His community involvement includes serving on the Planning Board and Housing Committee, as well as serving on the Habitat for Humanity board. In both his municipal and professional roles, Boulerice has come to prefer a more active approach to local government.
“I believe we currently have a very reactive governance approach,” Boulerice said. “You can always be dealing with what’s coming at you because you have to. You can also be working towards a bigger goal.”
If elected, Boulerice said he would like to begin by bringing Waterville’s stakeholders to the table. “When I say stakeholders, I mean institutions: Colby College, Thomas College, Maine General, the Alfonds, the various stakeholders that have a real interest in Waterville. What does the five-to-ten-year plan for Waterville look like? I’ve never really heard that articulated.”
Boulerice aligns his vision with a quote from Steve Jobs: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.” For him, this captures the need to make decisions with a long-term view, even when you don’t know the outcome.
“I think any organization or business, and that would include a municipal one, needs to have a vision in place first and then work backward from that,” Boulerice said.
Housing is one area where he would like to apply that approach. He would look at zoning, parking requirements, and vacant buildings to identify development opportunities. He also wants the housing committees to include industry people and set measurable targets.
“It can’t be that: ‘What do we do about housing, come back to us in two years and tell us?’ ” Boulerice said. “That’s not a very effective way to run a committee.”
If the city received a hypothetical one-million-dollar grant, Boulerice would look for ways to attract private investment rather than spend it. He would start with the existing housing stock and vacant buildings and look at ways to combine the public funds with municipal bonds to get development going.
“I would first be looking at how we can use this to receive a return on our investment. How do we go about multiplying that and get a long-term return on the investment rather than spend a million dollars that we have today, which we won’t have tomorrow?” Boulerice said. “Municipalities can bond at very low interest rates, so if you could bond and then incentivize investors to come and offer those funds for a slight percentage above what your bond rate is, they’re getting an incentive.”
On homelessness, addiction, and downtown safety, Boulerice believes the city can provide the services people need while still maintaining a “generous environment” for residents and downtown businesses.
“I think there is a way to have compassion with accountability,” he said. “We need to continue to address the root causes.”
For Boulerice, leadership also means listening to Waterville residents and respecting municipal staff’s expertise. He said he would work to improve communication between the council and constituents and help coordinate the city council, the city manager, and the various municipal departments.
“A leader can’t pretend to have all the answers,” he said. “You have to respect the expertise of the people you’ve hired.”
Outside of municipal affairs, he spends his time with his two daughters at parks and trails around Waterville, and also at the Children’s Discovery Museum. He and his seven-year-old daughter have a Sunday brunch tradition at Front & Main, which started when she was two.
Boulerice’s final remark is that members across the political spectrum, including a former Waterville mayor, have endorsed his campaign.
“I want to bring attention to the fact that my campaign is not about representing any political party,” Boulerice said. “It’s about leadership.”
~ Summer Woo `28
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