This article was written before the voting period has closed.
On Nov. 3, 2026, Waterville voters cast ballots in the general election, where Democratic incumbent Mayor Michael Morris is seeking re-election against Republican Matthew Boulerice.
This past Thursday, Morris held a town hall–style event at the College, hosted by the Colby Democrats, to discuss his campaign and answer student questions.
Morris is originally from Salem, Mass., but grew up in Rockland, Maine, and lived in Belfast and China, Maine, before settling in Waterville in 2015.
But among the places in Maine he has lived, Waterville felt like no other: “I moved here in 2015… and this is the first place that I really feel like is home. And I am extremely protective of the things that go on here.”
Morris began his civic involvement on the planning board in China, Maine, where he found the technical aspects of planning to be tedious: “I don’t like any of this. Like, you know, talking about DEP regulations and setbacks and all of this stuff, and we gotta do grading, you know, wetlands. I’m like, I just wanna talk about who approves businesses, and how do we get, like, economic development, like, the fun stuff? That’s the stuff that I’m interested in.”
Through this experience, he became interested in how municipalities can attract businesses and encourage economic development.
Morris initially joined the Waterville City Council in 2019 after receiving a phone call about an available seat. He remembers someone asking, “There’s a city council seat coming available. Are you interested?” to which he responded, “Sure, that sounds like fun.”
Morris served on the council until winning the Nov. 2023 mayoral election. During his tenure, he collaborated with community organizations such as the Waterville Impact Task Force, which supports public health initiatives, including rural healthcare and substance misuse prevention.
Seeking another term as Waterville’s mayor, Morris aims to provide continuity after a period of administrative uncertainty. The City Council and municipal government have spent considerable time establishing plans, and the city now needs to focus on putting them into practice.
“We’ve done a lot of work as a council and municipal government to put things in place,” Morris said. “Now we have a city manager, and we really need the person to start moving chess pieces.”
Morris described the mayor’s role as extending beyond city government. He views the mayor as an ambassador for Waterville, responsible for representing the city and drawing attention to its community initiatives.
Morris calls collaboration his “favorite word.” He stated that Waterville can achieve more by working with neighboring municipalities and organizations rather than operating independently.
He discussed options such as jointly purchasing fuel and road salt with nearby towns and sharing emergency services. “If we purchase, you know, ridiculous amounts of fuel, we get it at a lower rate. Well, what if we purchased fuel for, like, Fairfield or for Winslow? Or what if we purchase, you know, sand and things like that?”
For Morris, these strategies could potentially reduce financial and administrative burdens on individual municipalities. Morris currently participates in a coalition of Maine mayors that coordinates municipal priorities and advocates for local communities in Augusta.
Mara Reba `28 asked how Morris would spend a hypothetical $1 million grant, and he responded with advice from Garvan Donegan of the Central Maine Growth Council: “I would invest in people.”
Morris said that having the team to develop and manage projects is crucial to making public investments effective. Rather than focusing only on infrastructure, he emphasized the staff and administrative capacity needed to carry those projects through. “If you invest in the people to have those [projects], and manage those projects,” he said, “then I think you’ll start to see that return on the investment.”
Morris also provided a recent example of his approach to addressing local concerns. His wife, Aimee, asked him one night, “Did you know that they charge a dollar for students to get into the football game?” Morris learned that Waterville students were being charged $1 to attend high school football games and questioned the necessity of this fee.
“I don’t understand a world in which you need $17 from kids that are gonna go watch their friends play a sport. Like, how is this, like, advancing any type of, you know, budgetary thing? I’ll write [the athletic director] the 17 bucks, if that’s what [they] want. It’s ridiculous,” Morris said. “And, you know, that’s how we eliminated that barrier. And we had more kids at football games this year.”
Morris’s commitment to community participation extends to the younger communities. One of his first initiatives as mayor was establishing a Youth Council, which provides local students with opportunities to learn about municipal departments and engage in policy discussions. “[The kids] learn how to go through the process and talk with people, and, you know, we go and we visit with, you know, different departments, so that they can see that. They have an opportunity to sit at the council table during the council meetings and participate in the discussions. and offer, you know, like, youth perspective to any of the topics that we have, right?”
Morris believes in the “power of youth” and wants young people to have meaningful opportunities to participate in decisions affecting their communities.
Eleanor Havemeyer `29 asked, “How do you think that we, as Colby students, could kind of better the relationship with Waterville locals so they can have more trust in our voting?”
Morris responded, “You guys are here 10 months out of the year,” arguing that students are part of the Waterville community. “I think that regardless, I welcome you [all] to participate in the thing that happened in the city as much as you want to, and there’s always going to be a population of this city that is going to have this opinion.”
“Students have the right to vote in the municipality in which you attend schools, right? You know, and I think that’s awesome, and you should exercise that, right? And I hope that you do. You know, you guys are here ten months out of the year like that’s more than some of these people that go to Florida for six months.”
Morris also recalls winning his first City Council election by four votes, with a recount narrowing his margin to two. “Voting matters,” he said. “I won my first election with two votes.”
Looking ahead, Morris expressed his hope to shape Waterville into a place where young people reflect positively on their experiences. “How do we shape this community to make you just feel like, you know what? I really enjoyed my time, and I want to just stay in Waterville,” Morris said. “That would be awesome.”
~ Summer Woo `28
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