A former Farmingdale selectman defeated in a re-election bid last year is running against a Planning Board member in the race for an open seat on the Board of Selectmen.

The seat is held by David Sirois, the board chairman, who is not running for re-election. The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Hall-Dale Middle School gymnasium. Residents also will vote on the school district’s budget during the election. The Town Meeting, when residents will vote on the municipal budget, is scheduled for 1 p.m. June 13 at the Hall-Dale High School theater.

The selectman’s race pits Doug Ebert, who served on the Board of Selectmen from 2011 to 2014, against Wayne Kilgore, who has been on the Planning Board since 2013.

Ebert, 42, service manager at Charlie’s Motor Mall in Augusta and a captain in the town’s volunteer Fire Department, said his prior experience as a selectman gives him an advantage because he already knows how things in the town work. He said projects also tend to get dropped when the town elects a new person each year.

In the last two board elections, residents elected newcomers James Grant and Nancy Frost.

“I really want to see some consistency with the board as far as the longevity of people being on the board,” Ebert said. “If you get a new person on there year after year, it’s very hard to continue with projects that are going on.”

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He said one of those projects that is high on his list of priorities is a long-running plan to build a fire station or a combined fire station-town office building. While Ebert was on the board, the town had been in talks with the city of Hallowell to collaborate on a fire station, but those haven’t led to anything concrete.

Kilgore has served two years on the Planning Board. He said several people encouraged him to run for selectman this year.

He said personality problems seem to be affecting the Board of Selectmen, and he hopes to get acclimated in the position and come back with a better solution.

“It seems to be a little bit of a disarray,” Kilgore said of the board.

He thinks it’s important for everyone in the group to be a part of the decision process.

“It always works better when no one is fighting in the pool,” Kilgore said.

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Kilgore, 62, said he’s lived in Farmingdale since he was 8, when his father bought an insurance company in town. He’s now a warranty analyst for Milton CAT in Scarborough and manages several commercial properties in the Augusta area for his father.

He said his experience acquiring and managing commercial properties has given him experience working with municipalities and various regulations, and he’ll be able to bring that experience to the board.

The two men are running to replace Sirois, who said he’s not running for re-election because his job as a construction site foreman has kept him out of town more often recently. He said he’s managed to fulfill his duties as a selectman, but it’s been exhausting.

In the race for his seat, Sirois is supporting Ebert, saying that Ebert has more experience than the other current board members.

“Doug already has experience on the board, and that is what the board needs at this time,” he said.

Since becoming chairman after Frost defeated Ebert, Sirois has clashed with his fellow board members, especially about the snowplow contract, a traditionally controversial issue in the town.

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The previous contractor, Ellis Construction, was awarded the three-year, $487,500 contract in 2013, but a small group of residents frequently criticized the Farmingdale contractor at board meetings. The board and the contractor agreed in August to end the contract two years early.

Only Ellis Construction and McGee Construction of West Gardiner submitted bids for the new plowing contract, but because Ellis Construction didn’t attend a mandatory pre-bid meeting, the board voted to open only McGee Construction’s bid despite the town attorney recommending opening both bids. Sirois voted to open both bids, but the other members overruled him.

McGee Construction’s three-year bid came in at $811,965, but the board negotiated it down to about $646,000.

In a meeting in September, shortly after the opening of the bid, Sirois accused Grant of telling McGee Construction prior to bidding that the board wouldn’t open Ellis Construction’s bid. Later in that meeting, Grant implied that Sirois could have lied about the town attorney’s recommendation.

Paul Koenig — 621-5663

pkoenig@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @pdkoenig


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