"Hi ladies and gentlemen. I’m Pete Lachapelle, and I’m running for mayor.

A little bit about me. Well, I graduated Spalding High School and then Plymouth State College with a degree in business management. I have one son who’s an adult now and unfortunately moved away to pursue a career down south.

I work for Waste Management. I’m a senior account executive. Basically, I manage cities and towns in the state of Maine and a section of New Hampshire.

I’m running for city council because I want to give back to the city that I love and that I’m proud to call home. I personally believe government should be transparent, we should be held accountable, and—just as important—fiscally responsible for taxpayer dollars.

Every municipal budget has wants and needs, right? We have needs that we have to fill. We need education for our kids, police, fire protection. We need our roads plowed. But there’s a balance that we have to look at. We just can’t give every department what they want. As much as I’d like to, it’s just not reality.

Folks, remember five years ago, right, when COVID hit—that threw a huge monkey wrench into everything. Think about it. Costs have escalated. It’s still supply chain issues. You and I feel it when we go to the grocery store, fill up our tanks. It’s real and it needs to be addressed. And every penny that we add to that tax rate impacts you. We need to address it.

I think the council now has done a good job, but I think we can do better. I know we can do better.

Do we face some uh challenges? Oh, yeah. We face a lot of challenges. I could list a bunch, and I’ll name a few. Obviously, there’s a housing shortage, uh homelessness, the drug epidemic. But is that unique to the city of Rochester? No, folks, it isn’t. Right. With my job, I travel and meet other city officials and staff. And it’s the same issues in Maine and New Hampshire, albeit at different levels, but we all feel it.

You know what—it’s… you know what’s going to set us apart is how we tackle that and how we address these challenges as we work together. Right? If we keep our eye on that bullseye, we’re going to get there, folks.

Again, I’m Pete Lachapelle. I’m running for mayor, and I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can over the next four to five weeks. Thank you for listening. Take care."

Notes:

The Public Information and Community Engagement Office for the City of Rochester is pleased to announce that the Meet the Candidates video series is now available for viewing ahead of the upcoming Municipal Election.

The nonpartisan series introduces voters to candidates for Mayor, City Council, School Board, and Police Commission. Each candidate was given up to three minutes to speak directly to voters, share their priorities, and present their personal message.

To ensure fairness and transparency, all videos were recorded live in a single take, without edits, hosts, or predetermined questions.

The views and opinions expressed in the following video are those of the candidate and do not necessarily reflect the views of the City of Rochester, its elected officials or staff. The content is presented as part of a public information effort to provide equal opportunity for all candidates to address the community.

Transcript was taken directly from the GovTV website closed captioning. AI added bold/italic fonts for emphasis and separated paragraphs where appropriate.

In this survey, the candidate answered the following questions:

• "Why are you running?"
  
  

• "Do you support the city’s tax cap and for what, if any, reasons would you support going over it?"
  
  

• "How can Rochester ease the burden on residential property taxpayers?"
  
  

• "How can the city further the affordability and availability of housing? Do you support efforts in the state legislature aimed at reducing local control of zoning rules and regulations?"
  
  

• "What can Rochester do to attract new small businesses and support the small businesses already in the city?"
  
  

• "Rochester purchased the old Care Pharmacy and nearby properties for more than $3.3 million. Do you agree with this purchase and what should Rochester do with the property it now owns?"
  
  

• "Short-term and long-term, what should the mayor/council do about the growing homeless population in Rochester?"
  
  

• "The Legislature has empowered cities to create “social districts” where outdoor drinking of alcoholic beverages is allowed. Do you support bringing social districts to Rochester?"
  
  

• "What else would you like voters to know about you?"

You can view the survey by clicking here.

Pastor Micah invited each of the mayoral candidates to discuss their campaigns on the "Sunday Sermons with Pastor Micah" podcast.

You can listen to the entire podcast with Peter Lachapelle by going here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/74r1lHS4SaTMvUkOVmZkRL 

Below is an AI generated summary of the podcast:

00:00 – 01:19
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Nonpartisan approach & tone
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “There’s no right, there’s no left, red or blue. What we need to do as a mayor and council is vote for what is best for the City of Rochester and the residents.”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Emphasizes a nonpartisan posture—decisions should serve residents, not parties.

02:01 – 04:27
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Homelessness & substance-use strategy
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “The city just can’t throw money at the situation and hope it’s going to go away. It won’t.”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Calls for targeted pilot projects (veterans, youth, families), more emergency shelter capacity, easy-to-find resources, and measure-and-adjust accountability.

05:04 – 07:15
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Syringe litter & harm reduction
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “Having a dispenser for people to place these needles… I’m not promoting it or enabling… They gotta put it somewhere.”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Supports secure sharps containers and safe collection—notes disposal costs and need for funding.

08:54 – 11:38
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Roads, sidewalks & budget trade-offs
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “125, by the way, was state highway… We allocate a certain amount of money each year [for roads and sidewalks].”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: DPW ranks projects; can’t fix everything without higher costs. Won’t cut police, fire, DPW, or schools; urges residents to email/call counselors or attend meetings.

12:24 – 13:18
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: How a mayor governs (consensus over promises)
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “What a mayor needs to do is build consensus… you need six other votes to get anything accomplished.”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Most actions require council majorities (sometimes two-thirds); warns against solo “I’ll lower your taxes” promises.

14:44 – 16:51
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Schools—what City Hall controls (and doesn’t)
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “All we have authority… is their bottom-line budget… We don’t set policies, curriculum, any of that.”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: School-board handles policy/curriculum; mayor/council approve only the bottom-line budget.

16:51 – 19:01
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs)
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “If [EFAs] did [exist back then], I wouldn’t have taken the money… I’m not a big fan of it.”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Skeptical of taxpayer funds for private tuition when families can pay; flags fairness and possible strings attached.

25:21 – 29:08
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Fairgrounds, Sky Haven Airport & growth
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “The fairgrounds has a lot of potential… Government should be transparent… and we need to be fiscally responsible…”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Build on existing assets (Opera House, Roger Allen, fairgrounds); some negotiations must be non-public to protect taxpayers; Pease runs Sky Haven; push industry/business growth to widen the tax base.

29:41 – 31:20
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Housing affordability & tax base diversity
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “We can’t just do what we call affordable housing… We have to… have a diversity of income so the tax load [is] spread throughout.”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: COVID-era cost/labor/supply issues made building pricier; favors mixed-income development to spread burden.

32:04 – 36:09
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Civic engagement & core values
𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲: “If you please everyone, that means you’re lying to someone… I’m not playing that game.”

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Rochester-born; claims 1,200+ meetings attended; pledges integrity, professionalism, listening, and cross-board collaboration on essentials.

“I’m running for mayor because I want to give back to the city I love and am proud to call home,” Lachapelle said.

“I believe that government should be transparent, held accountable and be fiscally responsible spending tax payer money.”

“Every community has wants and needs and we need to focus on the essential needs (police, fire, schools, etc.).”

“As for the wants, Covid threw a huge monkey wrench into the mix, costs have skyrocketed, supply chain and labor shortages are real and we are all feeling the pain at the grocery store and gas pump.”

“Every penny we increase the tax rate, negatively impacts residents that are already feeling the pinch.”

“We need to keep our eye on the target (tax rate) and stay focused.”

• Foster’s Daily Democrat. (2025, September 30). Rochester’s 4 candidates for mayor identify their top priorities for the city. https://www.fosters.com/story/news/politics/elections/2025/09/30/rochesters-4-candidates-mayor-mayberry-lachapelle-grassie-robbins/86326724007/

Information About Peter Lachapelle

• Public Sector Representative at Waste Management

• Most recently served on Rochester City Council during 2021-2023 term.

Resources to Learn More About Peter Lachapelle

LinkedIn Page