Fire truck loses, plow truck wins

First published: 1999-03-07

ANDOVER, ME — Mark Thurston won a hotly contested race for an open seat beating three other challengers seeking to replace outgoing incumbent Brian Mills.

Thurston polled 50 votes topping James Sims by six votes. Gary Vaughn received 19 votes and Elizabeth Ladd got four votes.

In the race for a school board seat Lori Hall beat Kathleen Glover 60-54.

Despite interest in the two races, voter participation was low due to stormy weather, Town Clerk Phyllis Spaulding said.

More than 120 people turned out for town meeting, an event one selectman called "the smoothest town meeting I can remember."

Selectman Wendy Green said only a handful of articles on the warrant were rejected. The most significant of the foiled proposals was the fire request to begin funding an account with $10,000 to purchase a new truck.

Residents approved a plan to complete all the unfinished roads in town, a $440,000 project that will need special town meeting approval later this year if it is to go into effect. A new $97,000 plow truck also passed, with the cost to be financed over six years.

Andover voters also created a committee charged with studying the possibility of adopting a town manager form of government.