WILTON – Three residents are vying for a three-year spot on the Board of Selectmen this year.

Elections will take place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at the town office.

The town meeting will then reconvene at 6:30 p.m. June 16 at the Academy Hill School gymnasium.

Keith Swett, a Wilton native, has been a member of the Planning Board for the past five years. He owns his own band saw blade business, where he makes and sharpens band saw blades for clients throughout New England. He also works as part-time postmaster at the East Dixfield Post Office. He is a former 15-year employee of NAPA Auto Parts in East Wilton.

Swett has been a member of the East Dixfield Fire Department for the past seven years. He has also been a member of the Farmington Elks Lodge for the past 13 years.

Swett has taken Firefighter I and hazardous materials training. He has also taken business and automotive-oriented classes.

“I decided to run because people came to me and said they wanted me to run,” he said. Swett said he is willing to listen and learn without making any issue personal. Swett is in support of the town’s library and is concerned about the lack of participation by residents and voters in town.

Michael Lilley has lived in Wilton all his life. He graduated from the culinary arts program at Eastern Maine Vocational Technical Institute. Lilley has been employed as a safety specialist with Cianbro in Pittsfield for the past seven years. He was a volunteer for the former Wilton Ambulance Service for six years and has been a member of the Wilton Fire Department for the past 18 years.

Lilley said he wants to represent townspeople in a fair and open-minded way, knowing the consequences of any decisions made.

Lilley also said one of his main focuses is to look into how the town can draw businesses and employment. He would like to see large unoccupied buildings in town used for that purpose.

“I just want to do my part to help the town, make it better, make it stronger,” Lilley said.

Leslie Brown has lived in Wilton for 27 years. He has been a salesman for Coca-Cola since 1972. He graduated from Fryeburg Academy and studied agriculture at the University of Maine at Orono for two years.

Brown was a selectman for seven years in the 1980s, chairman for five of them.

He is a past master of the Masons and has been a member for 28 years. He is also a past exalted ruler of the Farmington Elks Lodge and has been a member there for 23 years.

Brown said a town official must be willing to listen to townspeople and always give some kind of answer to their questions and concerns, even if it is not the answer they may want. “I want to serve as a selectmen for the benefit of all people in Wilton not just a select few,” he said.

Brown said he feels the most important issue facing the town is bringing in employment and development. He said he would like to work with county and state developers toward that end.


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