Dan Steward is facing his most serious challenge since his initial election as Waterford First Selectman in 2005. Democratic challenger Peter Davis knows where the Republican incumbent is vulnerable and is doing a good job of trying to capitalize.

On the surface, Steward has much going for him. Waterford is a nice town. It has a great school system and all its schools are either new or recently renovated as new. Three-quarters of the townspeople are served by public water and sewer service. There is garbage collection, a town police force, a beautiful beach, a great library, and ample services.

And while property taxes have gone up in recent years, a result of a revaluation in the Millstone nuclear power station assessment after deregulation, its tax rate is still the envy of most of its neighbors and the commercial tax base is broad.

Steward and his selectman running mate, Robert Brule, have sought to capture this spirit of good cheer in their campaign slogan — “The town that works.”

Except, counters Davis and his running mate, Glenn Patterson, sometimes it doesn’t.

Davis is the son of a former first selectman, Herb Davis. The Davis clan is a fourth-generation Waterford family. Davis has served on the RTM, the Waterford Week Committee, the Board of Finance, the RTM, the Conservation Commission, and spent two years as a selectman, 2003-2005.

As director of Norwich Planning and Development, he has a detailed knowledge of how municipal government works. He is well capable of serving as Waterford’s chief executive officer. He said he did not seek re-election as selectman in 2005 because his duties were expanding in Norwich to include more work on economic development.

While he prefaces his comments about the election with the qualifier, “This isn’t about Dan Steward,” he is perceptive enough to know that to win he has to make a case for firing the first selectman.

He points to what he considers a poor record on planning for the capital projects necessary to maintain town roads, upgrade the infrastructure that supports the water and sewer system, replace an aging public works facility, and the like.

Steward’s management style did come into question last January when the Board of Finance rejected his administration’s $12.9 million plan to address many of those needs. Members didn’t like the way projects were lumped together, they challenged the numbers, and they decried a lack of communication.

Davis argues that Waterford has fallen badly behind on its maintenance needs because of the first selectman’s poor planning. Easy for him to say, responds Steward, pointing out that he also had to manage the cost of school construction and avoid a tax spike tied to the lowering of the Millstone assessment.

Steward says he is optimistic about winning again. It would be a second four-year term. A charter change to four-year first selectman terms went into effect in 2011.

Politicians usually say they are optimistic. If he is realistic, which I suspect Steward is, he knows he is in a tough fight.

Several special interest groups are not happy with him. Neighbors around the former Seaside Regional Center complex contend that the administration did not do well in communicating with them as Steward embraced a proposal to redevelop the site for condos, and on and off again project that dragged on for years. A year ago, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced the state was abandoning that proposal to convert Seaside to a state park. The neighbors welcomed the news.

Davis says he always thought it should be a park.

Changes in the assignment of paid firefighter personnel have also upset residents in the neighborhoods served by the Goshen and Quaker Hill Districts, with Steward the target of their displeasure.

And Steward's embrace of a plan to have Waterford join a proposed regional animal shelter at the state prison in Montville — with inmates providing support (a good idea, in my opinion) — upset a group that has raised nearly $200,000 towards rebuilding Waterford's regional shelter.

In low-turnout local elections, small and unhappy constituencies can be pivotal. Davis is working hard to make sure they are. Steward, on the other hand, is betting that a majority of voters still see Waterford as pleasant town “that works.”

The question is whether after Nov. 3 Steward will still be working for the town that works.

Paul Choiniere is the editorial page editor.

Twitter: @Paul_Choiniere

p.choiniere@theday.com