Rockland — The Republican candidate for Maine House District 47 for Rockland and part of Owls Head is trying to overcome a perception that he's not a resident of the community he wants to represent.

Gordon P. Mank Jr. owns a house at 81 Grace St. in Rockland, according to the city's tax office. Mank said he keeps a third-floor apartment there, which he recently vacated for remodeling. He said he and his wife are in the process of buying another home in Rockland.

During an interview on Aug. 27, Mank said he has been employed as executive director of Midcoast Hospitality House, a homeless shelter on Old County Road in Rockport. One of the requirements of his job is supervising the residents at night, but Mank said he never considered the shelter to be his home.

Moreover, he said, two of his children went to Rockland District High School, including a daughter who will graduate this year from Oceanside-East, the former RDHS.

"We're making changes at the shelter," he said. "In September we're going to hire night staff — in fact we're training them right now. We went through a period when it was more efficient to do the night supervision ourselves."

The Rockport tax assessor's office lists Midcoast Hospitality House as the entity that owns the facility.

The shelter is a nonprofit corporation established for charitable and religious purposes, according to the Maine Secretary of State's Corporations Division. Mank is listed as the clerk. The shelter provides beds for 19 homeless people, including children if they are with adults, who stay for periods from a few days to a few months.

"I'm an employee at the shelter," Mank said. "I don't own it."

"I was born in Rockland — not at Pen Bay — but at the former hospital that's now the Knox nursing center next to the library," he said.

While his driver's license shows a post office box address, he has other documents, such as a gun permit, listing him at 81 Grace St., Rockland.

Courier Publications reporter George Chappell can be reached at 207-594-4401, ext. 117, or at gchappell@courierpublicationsllc.com.