WILTON — Ruth Cushman beat out three other candidates to win a seat on the Wilton Selectboard in Tuesday’s election.

Cushman, 66, won a three-year term on the board, receiving 271 votes. Irving Faunce came in second, receiving 196 votes. David Leavitt received 154 votes, and Betty Shibles received 77 votes. Chairwoman Tiffany Maiuri ran uncontested for re-election to her seat, receiving 506 votes.

Cushman has served a variety of roles in municipal government, most recently as the town manager in Jay. She was also a town manager in Livermore Falls. Cushman sits on the Wilton Finance Committee and is a certified code enforcement officer and tax assessor.

“I’ve spent most of my adult life doing public service,” Cushman said in an interview during the campaign. “I thought that running (for the selectboard) would be something that I could do to contribute to the community. That sounds corny, but I really do.”

During the campaign, Cushman said that her experience working in area towns would help her serve the town of Wilton. “They may have good ideas that Wilton hasn’t tried,” Cushman said. “It’s a good basis.”

Faunce, 70, has previously sat on the select board for a three-year term in 2007 and was re-elected in 2010, though he resigned in 2011 when he began a job that required him to spend most of his time outside of the area. Faunce ran last June for selectman and again in January, but lost.

Shibles, 78, was born and raised in Wilton, though she spent most of her adult life outside of the state for her teaching career. Returning to Wilton eight years ago, Shibles was taken aback by the dire condition downtown Wilton was in. Shibles, who serves on Wilton’s Downtown Committee, believes that more input needs to be generated from residents to determine what the town needs economically.

Leavitt, 57, also believes that the Route 2 corridor is primed for development. Leavitt works as the support services manager for Regional School Unit 54 in Skowhegan. He previously worked as support services director of Regional School Unit 9. He has never sought public office before, but when the board proposed contributing $15,000 of taxpayer funding to help with the debt payments on the wastewater treatment plant, he was inspired to run. With only a portion of Wilton residents using the wastewater system, Leavitt thinks only the users should pick up the cost of the payments.

In Tuesday’s election, Cherie Ann Harrison ran uncontested for Wilton’s seat on the Regional School Unit 9 board of directors, receiving 307 votes.

Lauren Abbate — 861-9252

labbate@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate

 

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