FREEPORT – By the end of 2012, the Freeport Town Council will have a far different look from the one that was in place at the beginning of the year.

Longtime council Chairman Jim Cassida has been ousted from his District 4 seat by first-time officeholder Andy Wellen, 51. Wellen beat Cassida by just 127 votes in the Nov. 6 election, 655-528.

There was almost no time for Wellen to savor his win before taking his seat, as the council, which also now includes new at-large Councilor Melanie Sachs, who ran unopposed for the seat previously occupied by Councilor Charlotte Bishop, was scheduled to meet for the first time on Nov. 13. The meeting, which was to select a new chairman and vice chairman, was held after the Tri-Town Weekly’s deadline.

A new District 1 councilor will be chosen in a special election on Tuesday, Dec. 4. The special election was made necessary by last month’s resignation of Sara Gideon, vice chairwoman, who had moved out of the district. Gideon is not gone from local politics, though – she was elected to the District 106 seat in the Maine Legislature, handily defeating Jody James, 3,260-1,668.

The three new councilors will join incumbent councilors Rich DeGrandpre (at-large), James Hendricks (at-large), Kristina Egan (District 3) and Kate Arno (District 2) on the seven-member board.

Wellen, a clinical social worker, said he wants to work on bringing more transparency to all levels of the Freeport town government.

“(I want to find a way) where we can get more public input sooner on issues so that there’s less chance for polarization to occur,” he said.

Wellen cited as an example of something that he felt was done without much public input was a series of meetings the town had earlier this year about the proposed remake of the Exit 20 interchange of I-295 at Desert Road.

Wellen said the town, the Maine Department of Transportation and L.L. Bean had been discussing the proposed remaking of the Exit 20 bridge for months before it went before the public at a meeting on Oct. 30. The state approached the town and L.L. Bean with a proposal to re-orient the interchange by installing what is known as a “diverging diamond interchange.” It would reroute traffic over the bridge on the opposite side of the road, eliminating the need for cars to cut across oncoming lanes of traffic to make a left turn onto the highway.

It would have better for the public to have been involved in the discussion from the beginning, Wellen said.

“There’s concerns that there’s deal making that goes on behind closed doors without input,” he said.

In addition to bringing more transparency to town government, Wellen said, he wants to make sure the town’s residential areas are protected from too much development.

“One of the things that I would pursue is to still make sure to protect the rural residential areas from commercial development, while supporting the business community in the commercial areas,” he said.

For his part, Cassida, who had served on the council for 10 years, including stints as the chairman in 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2012, said he was surprised at the result of the election.

“As I was going around during the campaign, I was getting very positive feedback and was very optimistic that the vote would be different,” he said. “So I must admit I was a little surprised by it. That being said, the people of District 4 have certainly told me loud and clear what they think and I’ll have to accept that.”

While he will no longer be serving on the council, Cassida said, he will still find ways to be involved in town.

“I’m going to continue to be active in the community and I’m going to advocate for the things I think are important to the community,” he said. “ I’ll just have to find a new way to do that, at least in the short term, and I don’t know what the long-term future will bring. But I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason and (I believe the) next great thing’s out there for me. I just don’t know what it is yet.”

As he takes his council seat for the first time, Wellen said that he knows that he will need some time to get up to speed.

“I’ve been around politics and worked in other community groups and I understand a lot already, but there will be a learning curve,” he said. “So I definitely will take the time to learn what’s going on before I can be effective in pursuing some of the things I believe in.”

Andy Wellen

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