WEST PARIS – At a special election Thursday former selectmen Wade Rainey and Howard Gurney were elected to fill selectmen’s seats vacated recently by the resignation of Mary Waterhouse-Spear and Toby Whitman.
Rainey served on the board for nine years from 1991 to 2000 and, during that time, served as chairman on three occasions.
Prior to the election, Rainey said that he felt he could help the town in light of the 2002 audit that showed some poor bookkeeping. He also felt his experience on the board would be a help to the town and the office staff that is now working to address and correct discrepancies.
He said the board needs experienced selectmen who can help stabilize the town’s government after three years of turmoil caused by an inexperienced board and complaints registered by a small group of citizens who visit the selectmen’s meetings each week. The major complaint registered by the group is that the previous board was overly reluctant to answer their questions regarding the special audit and the problems that existed with the bookkeeping for 2002.
“The people have a right to ask questions,” said Rainey, “and the selectmen have a responsibility to answer as many as possible. True they can’t respond to questions regarding personnel issues or respond to questions that our attorneys warn might compromise the audit, but all general questions certainly should be answered when the people ask them.”
Rainey fills the seat vacated by Toby Whitman, which runs until March of 2005.
Gurney served in town government for many years, and was one of the founding fathers of West Paris when it was chartered by the state of Maine in 1958. He served throughout the 1960s on the board, then spent several years as a town official in Rangeley. During that time he served as town manager for several years and also sat on the Board of Selectmen. Following his time in Rangeley he returned to West Paris and was elected to the board again serving there in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s.
He now will complete the term vacated by Mary Waterhouse-Spear that expires in March of 2004. Both candidates were unopposed.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.