BELGRADE — Richard Damren and incumbent Ernie Rice were elected to the Board of Selectpersons Friday in a three-way race for two empty seats.

Damren, with 248 votes, and Rice, with 200, topped Wayne Pelletier, who received 187 votes.
Rice has been on the board for three years.

The other seat was held by Penny Morrell, who decided not to run after one term on the board.

Kevin Hawes, who has been road commissioner for four years lost to Maurice Childs, finishing third in a three-man race. Childs got 190 votes, Jason Stevens got 110 and Hawes got 89 votes.

Childs, who was roads commission for 20 years before Hawes took over the post, said before the election the road shoulders have been neglected and that the condition of the roads in town has suffered.

Rebecca Seel ran unopposed for her seat on the school board, receiving 345 votes, according to Town Clerk Cheryl Cook. Seel represents the town on the board of Regional School Unit 18, which also includes Oakland, China, Rome and Sidney.

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Secret-ballot voting for the elective positions and first 12 warrant articles were held Friday at the Belgrade Community Center for All Seasons.

Voters also decided several monetary articles, at the polls Friday.

They agreed to appropriate $50,159 for the operational budget of the Center for All Seasons; $137,437 for recreational programs and events at the Center for All Seasons; $48,849 for the library; $1,500 for Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area; $4,500 to support the Belgrade Lakes Region Business Group’s Fourth of July fireworks; $2,041 for Central Maine Area on Aging; and $4,250 for several signs, including town line signs and “Welcome to Belgrade” signs.

The only funding request voters rejected, according to Cook, was Article 10, which sought $2,500 to support Kennebec Behavioral Health.

The rest of the warrant articles and the town’s re to be decided at the annual Town Meeting, which begins at 1 p.m. today at the center.


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