MADISON — Paul Fortin, a longtime member of the Madison Advisory Board and the Planning Board and a former school board director, is challenging four-term incumbent Selectman Robert Hagopian in elections today.

Hagopian, 65, is a retired teacher and current transportation director for Madison-based School Administrative District 59.

“I don’t have any special interests; I’m just trying to do the best for the people of town of Madison,” Hagopian said. “We just got done bringing natural gas to Madison with no cost to the taxpayers. Now they can run the gas lines right by your house, and you can decide if you want to get natural gas or not.”

Hagopian said he favored Madison bringing the gas lines to town, but later opposed the plan in favor of Kennebec Valley Gas Co. making the investment.

He changed his position because further review of the municipal gas line plan revealed no profit for Madison, he said.

A sale agreement between KV Gas and Summit Natural Gas of Maine Inc. has been submitted to the Maine Public Utilities Commission for approval. Summit is a subsidiary of Summit Utilities of Colorado.

Fortin, 56, said he opposed municipal ownership of the gas lines from the beginning. He said he is running for selectman to bring his business experience to the board and to make meetings more open, with fewer executive sessions.

“I worked as hard as I could to convince the Board of Selectmen and the town manager that (the gas line) wasn’t in the town’s best interest,” he said. “When I couldn’t convince them, I worked as hard as I could to convince the voters in the town of Madison, and we won both elections to not be involved in building that gas line.”

The selectman’s term of office is three years.

Town Manger Dana Berry said incumbent Town Clerk/Treasurer Kathy Estes is running for re-election as a write-in candidate. He said Estes had a problem with her nomination papers, so the election ballot for that position is blank.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

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