Voters in several communities throughout Maine elected municipal officials in June.
Waterboro Selectman Robert Fay will remain in office after a recall effort failed by 388-584 vote. A group of petitioners had alleged Fay was sometimes abusive and intimidated people from voicing their opinions publicly.
John Ottum defeated incumbent John Rzasa by a single vote to become Dresden’s new First Selectman, while incumbents James Rea and Horace Moody Sr. were re-elected. Wiscasset Selectmen Duane Goud and Alex Roberts were re-elected and Robert Fairfield was elected to two-year terms.
Manchester Selectman Alec Rogers was defeated by Jeremy Pare by more than 100 votes. Incumbent Terri Watson was re-elected. The three competed for two seats. Vassalboro incumbent Selectman Elizabeth “Libby” Mitchell won a third, three-year term, defeating Lee Trahan by a vote of 291-115. Philip Thibodeau and Daniel Bilodeau were elected to fill two vacant seats on the Monmouth Board of Selectmen. Both easily defeated their challengers.
Teacher Christopher Poulin beat five other candidates to win a selectman seat in Cornville. Elizabeth Wisecup fended off two challengers to win re-election to the Windham Town Council. Incumbent Arthur Triglione and newcomer Joan Gardner were elected in Bridgton. Gardner defeated Selectman Earl Cash by 10 votes.
Robert Everett easily won a second term as Bethel selectman. He was first elected in 2000, but unseated in his 2003 re-election bid. Paul Fongemie easily won re-election as Madawaska selectman with 1,007 votes, while former Selectman Vernon Doucette won a second seat with 171 write-in votes. Incumbent Michael Violette received 42 write-in votes.
Theodore Smith and Charles Clarke were elected to the town council in Van Buren replacing Jimmy Don Madore and Robert Learnard, who were termed out. Readfield voters elected Henry Clauson and Matthew Nazar and re-elected incumbents Martha Bentley and Kathleen Schjulz to the board of selectmen. Becky Maxwell and Ted Wooster were returned to the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen, while Acton voters re-elected Nancy Ruma to another three-year term.
J. Katherine Chatterjee was elected to serve out the unexpired term of Harpswell Selectman Gordon Weil. Kennebunk Selectmen Dan Boothby and June Huston were re-elected despite challenges from three other candidates.
Voters turned out several incumbents in the 2006 election, including Raymond Selectman Betty McDermott. Former state Rep. Joseph Bruno defeated McDermott by a vote of 310-198. In Union, John Gibbons defeated incumbent Selectman Dwayne Noyes, and William Packard unseated George Reule. Arundel voters elected Mark Paulin over incumbent Roland Drew by a vote of 343-263. Wilton incumbent Selectman Keith Swett was unseated by former Selectman Norman Gould for a three-year term.
Brownfield voters ousted their three selectmen in a special recall election that drew a 70 percent voter turnout. In a separate vote, former Selectman Richard Norcross defeated one of the recalled selectmen for a three-year term and Town Clerk Wanda Bartlett was decisively re-elected. The townspeople were divided about whether the three selectmen had been wrong in filing a complaint against the town clerk who was alleged to have influenced one woman’s vote on a local referendum question last year.
Terri-Lynn Sawyer has been named new deputy town administrator in Harpswell. Sawyer, a Harpswell native, currently works as the town’s code enforcement and public health officer.
David Kalloch returns to Rockland after four years to rejoin the city’s code enforcement staff. Kalloch was chief code enforcement officer when he left the job in 2002 to oversee a school construction project. He returns as assistant CEO, his first job for the city when he was initially hired in 1985. He succeeds Harold Simmons, who retired on June 2.
Presque Isle’s interim Fire Chief Darrell White has been named the new chief. White has been with the department since 1988 and was promoted to deputy chief in 1999. State Police Trooper Phil Dawson is Lincoln’s new fire chief. Town councilors hope he will bring more stability to the department that has had three chiefs in two years.
Judy Mathiau has accepted the job of Rockport assessor, effective July 1. Mathiau worked as the town assessors’ agent from 1993 to 2000, as well as agent for St. George and Union. A charter change will dissolve the Board of Assessors (selectmen) and replace it with a single assessor.
Nathan Poore has been named Falmouth town manager, replacing Doug Harris, who worked as manager for 26 years. Poore, who is the current president of the Maine Town & City Management Association, has been Kennebunkport manager since 2000. He will begin his new job on July 31.
John Hawley was appointed Town Manager of Mechanic Falls on July 1. Hawley has been an employee of the town for 16 years beginning as a call-firefighter / EMT advancing to the rank of deputy fire chief. He spent the last eight years as the code enforcement officer and the most recent three years as the assistant town manager.
Joan Emery began working for Reed Plantation when John F. Kennedy was president. For over four decades, Joan Emery has been town manager of this community of less than 200 residents. She recently retired, not only from Reed Plantation, but also from her municipal duties in two other Aroostook County plantations, Drew and Glenwood. She took on municipal duties in Drew Plt. in the mid-1980s and in Glenwood in the mid-1990s.