Voters reelected Michael Phinney and Jane Willett to their seats on the Gorham Town Council Tuesday.
“I’m very happy and thankful to the people who voted for me,” Phinney said. “I’ll continue to work hard to do the best job I can for the people of the town.”
It marks the fourth three-year term for both Phinney, 38, and Willett, 57. Phinney has twice served as chairman of the council. They defeated three challengers to keep their seats.
Willett could not be reached last night for comment.
Phinney received the most votes in the three voting districts. Willett got the most votes at central. Phinney recieved a total of 2,447 votes; Willett, 2,228; Shonn Moulton, 1,022; David Homa, 719, and Harold Freeman, 604, according to unofficial results.
Gorham voters also elected three School Committee members and faced whether to borrow money to rebuild part of Libby Avenue and all of Brackett Road. Results in those elections were unavailable as the American Journal went press.
Casting his ballot in District 2 at the Masonic Building on Cressey Road, George Watson believed the number of candidates seeking council seats was a good sign. But he predicted that Phinney and Willett would regain their council seats.
“I find no major fault the way the council has been running,” Watson said.
Each of the three challengers was making their first bid for public office, in contrast to last year, when incumbents Burleigh Loveitt, Phil Dugas and Norm Justice ran unopposed.
Voting in District 1 at Little Falls School, Jim Eddy, 93, didn’t predict who would win seats. But Eddy favored Mike Phinney for the council because he’s a businessman.
John McCarthy, also voting at Little Falls, believed voters would re-elect both incumbents. “I think Jane is a good person to have on there,” McCarthy said.
For the School Committee, six candidates vied for three spots. While only two names, incumbent Steve Caldwell and Dennis Libby, appeared on the ballot for School Committee, four others, incumbent Steve Morin, Michael Chandler, Melinda Shain and Janet Williams, launched write-in campaigns.
A nine-year member of the School Committee, Bill Neily, didn’t seek re-nomination, and another School Committee member, Morin, jumped into the race as a write-in candidate after the deadline passed for submitting nomination papers.
With two children entering Gorham schools within two years, schools are important to Allison Boyce, who voted in District 2. She felt there was a lack of information about School Committee candidates during the campaign.
A former chairman of the School Committee, Jack Farrar, was pleased that there were some good write-in candidates for the School Committee. Farrar appreciated that several candidates were willing to serve but Farrar, who voted in District 1 at Little Falls School, was disappointed that more candidates didn’t get on the ballot.
“I think it’s nice that people are willing to devote time and energy for the School Committee and council,” he said.
Roger Kramer, voting in District 2, favored a competitive race, offering an opportunity for new blood. “I like more choices to choose from,” he said. “You need a fresh mind.”
In a local referendum, voters were to decide if they wanted to borrow $1.3 million as the town’s share of reconstructing Brackett Road and the portion of Libby Avenue from Route 25 to New Portland Road. The project, which would add four-foot paved shoulders along Brackett Road, would require an additional $4.3 million in state and federal money.
In a public hearing last month, many residents along the two roads complained that the roads need paving but they didn’t want a super highway through their neighborhoods. Voting in District 3, Peter and Kari Davis, who travel those roads, opposed the project, although they don’t live there. They agreed with several of the Brackett Road residents that reconstruction likely would increase traffic and speeding problems.
“It would become more of a commuter problem,” Peter Davis said.
But Jan Flood, voting in District 2, favored the local road project. Flood felt that those road improvements would help ease the town’s overall traffic problems.
Larry Wright, a poll clerk in District 3, called the turnout “very good.” At 3:45 p.m., 596 had voted in that district. Wright said the turnout in the district was a balance between men and women and young and old. He said the turnout was a good cross section.
(Gorham election Davis)- Peter Davis, holding his son, Nolan, 2, voted at District 3 at Gorham Middle School. Larry Wright, a poll clerk, looks on.
Jim Eddy, 93, votes in District 1 at the Little Falls School in Gorham.
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