Voters across southern Kennebec County headed to the polls Tuesday to decide local issues, races and school budgets.

Here’s a roundup of results available by deadline, with more information online at centralmaine.com.

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Voters weighed in on whether they want to enact a 180-day moratorium on retail marijuana stores and social clubs. The selectmen voted 3-2 to recommend passage.

Results were not available by deadline.

Chelsea

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Benjamin Smith, who is currently the vice chairman of the three-member Board of Selectmen, was running for re-election and was the only candidate to turn in nomination papers; he collected 108 votes.

The other 23 seats up for election were three seats on the Regional School Unit 12 School Board, seven seats on the Planning Board, five seats on the Board of Appeals, five seats on the Board of Assessment Review and three elected members of the Budget Committee.

Chelsea residents head to Town Meeting on Thursday to vote on the proposed town budget, which could add 18 cents to the town’s current property tax rate of $18.10 per $1,000 of assessed value and to consider changes in the town’s Shoreland Zoning and Animal Control ordinances.

Farmingdale

Voters decided whether Farmingdale should ban all retail marijuana establishments and retail marijuana social clubs.

If the ballot measure fails, residents can choose to enact a 180-day moratorium.

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Selectwoman Nancy Frost ran unopposed for a three-year term, and Stephen Stratton ran unopposed for a three-year term as road commissioner. Aimee Ellis and Jon Lambert competed for a three-year term on the RSU 2 board.

Town Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, when residents will decide whether to spend up to $1 million on a new fire station.

Results were not available by deadline.

Litchfield

Litchfield residents voted for someone to replace outgoing Selectman George Thomson.

The candidates running for his seat were Richard “Ric” Swett, a local goat farmer who would like to expand the Select Board by two members; and Gary Parker, who did not respond to requests for information last week.

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Parker won with 230 votes to Swett’s 118 votes.

Manchester

Residents had two candidates to choose from to represent Manchester on the Regional School Unit 38 school board.

Political newcomer Kaleb Pushard got 207 votes, defeating incumbent Terri Watson, chairwoman of the school board, who received 124 votes.

The school system’s $17.2 million budget was also up for a referendum vote Tuesday.

Monmouth

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In Monmouth, two candidates ran to fill the remaining two years on Darlene Sanborn’s term.

Harold W. Jones III, a past selectman who manages trucking fleets for a Lewiston-based bottling company received 193 votes, defeating Donna Seppy, an administrator with the University of Maine System who has also worked in the mental health field, who received 165.

Monmouth does not hold a Town Meeting, so voters also considered a proposed $3.22 million spending plan, which is up 2 percent from this year’s, and other ballot measures.

Residents voted 194-175 to repeal the limit of five grown dogs that residents are allowed to keep as pets and to authorize an expansion of the Cochnewagon Pond boat ramp, 298-75. But they narrowly rejected the addition of an electronic sign outside the Town Office, 184-195. They also voted 274-100 to adopt amendments to the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance.

Richmond

Four candidates ran for two seats on the Board of Selectmen.

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Andrew Alexander, who has served on the Budget Committee, is a nurse at MaineGeneral Medical Center and is a unit coordinator for a cardiac rehabilitation unit, received 129 votes and will serve on the board along with incumbent Robert Bodge, who received 182 votes. Incumbent David Thompson, who retired from the U.S. Postal Service as postmaster in Richmond, received 121 votes and Mark Pearson, a former selectman who works for Bath Iron Works in Brunswick, received 72 votes.

Voters decisively repealed the “blue law” that prohibits the sale of alcohol in restaurants on Sundays, 214-62.

RSU 2

Voters in Dresden, Farmingdale, Hallowell, Monmouth and Richmond voted Tuesday on the upcoming school year’s $27 million budget in a budget validation referendum.

The proposed budget in Regional School Unit 2 — which includes those five communities — is increasing 1.9 percent from the one approved last year, according to Superintendent Bill Zima.

During a public meeting last month, Zima outlined the $27,039,154 budget, which is $517,262.85 larger than the current one, saying the budget has increased 8.23 percent since the RSU was formed in 2009.

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To minimize the increase, Zima said, the district is saving more than $146,000 by not replacing some retiring teachers and is saving another $48,692 by reducing the school administrative staff. A saving of $124,000 comes from retiring debt.

Monmouth voters approved the budget, 265-114. Other results were not available by deadline.

RSU 4

Residents in the towns of Litchfield, Wales and Sabattus approved an $18.73 million school budget for their school district, Regional School Unit 4, voting 362-207. That budget is down 0.37 percent from this year’s and would not make any changes to its staffing and programs.

Though Litchfield residents have resisted RSU 4’s spending proposals in the past, this year’s proposal has won the support of the town’s Budget Committee and its voters. Litchfield residents voted 208-154 in favor of the budget.

RSU 38

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Voters in Manchester, Mount Vernon, Readfield and Wayne considered a referendum on the proposed $17.2 million budget for Regional School Unit 38, the Maranacook Area Schools. The budget for the 2017-18 school year was adopted with little dissent May 17 at the district’s annual meeting.

Readfield voters approved the budget in a close vote; 239 voted for and 213 voted against. Manchester voters approved the budget 252-83. Other results were not available by deadline.

SAD 11

School Administrative Unit 11 has put together a budget that’s less than 1 percent higher than the current year for the Gardiner area schools the district encompasses. Voters in Gardiner, Randolph, Pittston and West Gardiner were asked to approve a $24,055,000 budget, which passed easily at the budget validation vote on June 6 at the Gardiner Area High School. District voters approved the budget, 496-195.


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