Sue Tortello: Three seats to fill in Nov. 6 council election

by Staff Pioneer Times
17 years ago

Full name: Susan M. Tortello
Political Party: Independent
Other political offices held: Houlton town council — appointed to fill an unexpired one-year term; member of the town of Houlton Planning Board for six years — served several years as a planning board Image secretary; elected and served a three-year term on the town of Houlton board of budget review; member of the town of Houlton Comprehensive Plan Committee; member of the School Regional Planning Committee for Proposed RSU 4; member of the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army; past member of the Pastoral Council, St. Mary’s of the Visitation Catholic Church; former alternate member of the Old Town Zoning Board of Appeals — Old Town; alumni of the Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership Program.
Career background: Early work history 1977-1996: 19 years as a professional forester for several forest product companies in Louisiana, Texas and Maine. (Boise Southern Company, Kirby Forest Industries and Champion International Corporation). Last forestry position was with Champion International in Costigan. Left Champion to return to school to become a dietitian. Attended the University of Maine at Orono from the fall semester of 1996-December of 1999 where I earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science Degree in Nutrition and completed my Dietetic Internship.
    Resident of Houlton since December of 1999. Employed as a Nutritionist with the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians since January 2000.
    Licensure: Registered Dietitian (RD) and Licensed Dietitian (LD) State of Maine. Licensed Forester (LF) State of Maine and Notary Public, State of Maine.
What made you run for office? I chose to run for the one-year term on the Houlton town council because I believe it’s important to sustain the forward momentum and positive progress we’ve seen in the town during this bicentennial year. The most effective way I can work to accomplish this is by continuing to serve on the town council through the remainder of the un-expired term. My focus, as always, will be to assure the town’s business is conducted in a responsive, courteous and fiscally responsible manner.
What are your primary goals? To provide essential quality services to the residents of the town of Houlton, while maintaining a reasonable tax rate.