AUBURN — Leroy Walker said he sees much of New Auburn’s fortunes changing.

“But we still have a lot to do, and I feel I’m the best candidate to really push that forward,” the sitting Ward 5 city councilor said. “We have a lot of plans, with a new village and how we want to approach that. It’s the way we’d like to see businesses come into this area, and I think I can play a big role in making that all happen.”

Walker, first elected to the City Council in 2012, is hoping to win his second term at the polls in November.

He said the ideas spelled out it the New Auburn Master Plan are the the key to his plans for the next term.

“We need to bring in some small businesses there, and we can’t do it now, for example, with the way streets are,” he said. “So that village really needs to change for things to happen. That’s what we’re working on.”

His challenger, Ray Berube, who declined to submit a profile for the Sun Journal, served on the City Council for Ward 5 before, most recently from 2006 to 2011. He’s also served on the School Committee. All that experience is what convinced him to run again this time.

“I’m not a politician,” he said. “I just feel I can help people. If they have a problem, they can contact me and I make sure I look into it.”

He said he does not disagree with any thing in particular the sitting City Council has done. Instead, he’s seeking office because he feels he can serve Ward 5 residents.

“The only agenda I really have, is what I think they are doing right now — beautification,” Berube said. “For this city, it’s a matter of first impressions. You have to have something that’s going to make people say ‘Wow, this must be a really nice place to live.'”

Berube said he’ll take a wait-and-see attitude about the dual-surface ice arena being built on Turner Street. He’s cautious about having the city involved, and points to Lewiston’s investments in the Androscoggin Bank Colisee as an example of what can go wrong.

“On the other hand, we did great things with Ingersoll Arena,” Berube said. “We put $450,000 in there and it all went as planned.”

Walker said he has no doubts that building the arena has been the right decision.

“I always have been the biggest supporter of that, right from the very beginning,” Walker said. “It’s going to bring great opportunity to the whole area and especially up around the mall. You can already see things happening up there, and it’s just the beginning.”

Walker’s big goal over the next two years is to bring new businesses to Auburn.

“How are we going to make ourselves more friendly?” Walker asked. “We need to bring in businesses that can build our tax base and take some of that burden off of the homeowner. We need to bring in new, good-sized businesses to shift that.”

Ward 5 voters will cast their ballots at Sherwood Heights Elementary School, 32 Sherwood Dr.

Ward 5 is the southern-most ward in Auburn and includes all of New Auburn. It runs from the confluence of Little Androscoggin River and the Androscoggin River south to the border with Durham, with the Androscoggin River on the east and Broad Street, Hackett, Pownal and Trapp roads on the west.

staylor@sunjournal.com

Election coverage:

• Ray Berube, Auburn City Council Ward 5 (did not submit profile)
• Leroy Walker, Auburn City Council Ward 5
• More Auburn candidates