Vienna residents will chose between a couple of familiar faces when they vote for town officials Friday.

The election is 4-8 p.m. Friday in the Vienna Fire Department’s Community Room. Residents will also gather at 9 a.m. Saturday for the business portion of the Town Meeting, which add up to a $1.1 million budget. The meeting is also in the community room.

Three contests are on the ballot, and all posts are for one year.

Connie Smith, a former town clerk and treasurer, is challenging incumbent Annie Tibbetts for those jobs. Tibbetts and Smith have squared off for a number of years for town positions.

Tibbetts has been Vienna clerk and treasurer for the past year, and has been a deputy clerk in Farmington for two and a half years. She previously was Mount Vernon town clerk from October 2006 to June 2011.

Tibbetts uses an office trailer beside her home for Vienna town business.

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Smith was town clerk and treasurer for more than 13 years before Tibbetts narrowly won election to both jobs last March.

Troy Bean is challenging incumbent Danny Goucher for the post of road commissioner. Goucher won a three-way race last year to replace Linwood Meader Jr., who retired. Bean was one of the challengers as well.

Roger Pelton, who is challenging Christopher Smith for the second selectman seat, is looking for a change.

“We’ve had pretty much the same leadership for a while in the first and second selectman’s seats,” Pelton said.

Pelton was a selectman in Mount Vernon, but said he had to resign after a year and move back to Vienna after a death in the family.

“In my opinion we have some of the worst roads in the area,” Pelton said. “If we can find a way to supplement the money we have now maybe we won’t have to raise taxes so much.”

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Christopher Smith, who has been in office for 10 years and is Connie Smith’s husband, also believes road work is a priority.

“The town means a lot to me,” he said Friday. “Everybody’s like family.

“One of my main jobs is helping the road commissioner take care of roads, and I believe there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done to get the roads straightened,” Smith said.

First Selectman Dodi Thompson said no controversial items were on the town warrant.

Among the more expensive items on the warrant are funds for roads, including $152,000 for winter road work, $92,000 for paving, and $65,000 for road maintenance.

The tax rate for 2013 is $15.75 for each $1,000 worth of property valuation. The total budget is just more than $1.1 million, which includes funding for the schools and the county tax, Thompson said.

Betty Adams — 621-5631 badams@centralmaine.com Twitter: @betadams

 


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