Sun Journal
ANDOVER, Maine — In municipal elections Tuesday, residents ousted incumbents in contested races for selectmen and fire chief.
Jane C. Rich won the selectmen’s race for a three-year term, tallying 131 votes. Other candidates and their vote totals were incumbent Judy Tabb, 91 votes; Lucien Leo Camire, 56 votes; and Dianne Cutting, four votes.
Town Clerk Melinda Averill said late Tuesday night that Cutting had asked people a few days before the election not to vote for her.
Write-in candidate firefighter Justin Tibbetts, 25, won the fire chief position with 89 votes to incumbent Chief Rob Dixon’s 83 votes. A second write-in candidate, Andover Fire Department Deputy Chief Elaine Morton, received 60 votes.
“Justin would have had more votes, but people forgot to check the box after writing in his name,” Averill said.
Most of those 57 votes with unchecked boxes were for Tibbetts, although Morton garnered some of them, too, she said. None of them could be officially counted.
“I’m excited for him,” she said of Tibbetts, who is dating her daughter, Kelsey, 19.
Earlier in the day, Averill said she expected the usual 200 voters to visit the polls, but was pleasantly surprised that 289 came out.
The Fire Department was embroiled this past week in a personnel issue that came to light at Saturday’s town meeting when it was raised by Averill speaking as a resident and not as a town official.
She said that four volunteer firefighters suddenly lost their position last week, one of whom was her daughter Kelsey. Later Saturday afternoon, Chief Dixon would only confirm that one male firefighter was asked to turn in his gear and leave the department. That firefighter was Tibbetts.
But Averill said Saturday that two others quit on March 17. But neither Dixon, Averill nor anyone else, including Tibbetts and Morton, were willing to explain just what prompted the departures.
Qualifications for Tibbetts that were in a photocopied message left on the information handouts table beside the town meeting room door stated that he is an EMT, a firefighter for 10 years with his Firefighter 1 and 2 certificates.
The message also noted that he will “continue to encourage young people to be active in the Fire Department,” and that he is currently serving as one of only three certified EMTs in Andover.
Morton announced her candidacy as a write-in candidate on Monday evening. She said she had been with the Andover Fire Department for 30 years, many of which she was also an emergency medical technician. She is currently working to get her EMT license again.
Morton has also been the department’s deputy chief for the last nine years and is in charge of the department’s junior firefighters. “They have earned a reputation within the River Valley for being engaged, hardworking and responsible,” she said.
Mark Farrington won the road commissioner position with 198 votes. Other candidates and their vote totals were Darryl Wells, 62 votes; and David Dolloff, 25 votes.
Longtime Andover road commissioner Marshall Meisner chose not to seek reelection.
In uncontested elections, Melinda Averill received 281 votes and was reelected as town clerk and tax collector, while the following were elected to the school board: Linda Presby for a one-year term, 256 votes; Paula Lee for two years, 260 votes; and Albert S. “Pete” Coolidge for three years, 262 votes.
Averill said elected officials take over their positions Wednesday.
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