DIXFIELD – When voters visit the polls here Tuesday, they’ll have a chance to add new blood to a town board.

Three newcomers to the municipal government scene – Bettina Martin, Raymond “Tiny” Carlton and Tony Carter – are vying for two 3-year seats on the Board of Selectmen.

Incumbents Hugh Daley and Sandra Buchanan didn’t seek re-election.

Martin, 66, a retired finance director of 12 years for the town of Farmington, has lived in Dixfield for 35 years.

She serves Dixfield as a Finance Committee member.

Martin has also worked for SAD 21 as a business secretary, as a Dixfield ballot clerk, and has served Farmington as a treasurer, tax collector and office manager.

Banking on that background, she hopes to win a selectman’s seat.

“I feel that my background in all those areas will be beneficial to the town of Dixfield,” she said.

Martin said she wants to be a selectman “to improve employee relationships, and, most importantly, to improve the accountability for all areas of the town government.”

If elected, Martin said she would also strive to better inform residents about town business.

Carlton, 53, a MeadWestvaco Corp. maintenance worker for 20 years, has lived in Dixfield his whole life. It was his curiosity about the inner workings of municipal government, he said, that convinced him to run for selectman.

“I’ve always showed an interest in it, and I tried to attend stuff when I could,” Carlton said. “Now I have the time, so I thought I’d see how things work.”

A Mason, active member of the Poodunck Snowmobile Club, and a volunteer firefighter for 21 years, Carlton cited his business experience as an asset to the town should he get elected.

He owned and operated Griffin’s Gas and Ski-Doo for 28 years, selling it in July. Now he and his wife of 30 years are operating Carlton’s Greenhouse, which was formerly Hebert’s Greenhouse. They bought it in 2001.

Though Carlton was born and raised in Dixfield, he believes that people know him only by his nickname, “Tiny,” and not Raymond, the name he had to put on the election ballot.

Carter, 44, is also employed at MeadWestvaco as a maintenance general superintendent for pulping and utilities. Previously, he was a project manager for Northeast Industrial Service Co. Inc., a building contractor based in Winthrop.

Carter, who also grew up in Dixfield, is a registered master Maine guide of six years. He teaches hunter safety and is a member of the Sportsman’s Club in Dixfield.

For the past few months, Carter served on the River Valley Growth Council’s Board of Directors, and, since its inception, the Tech Center.

His business and management background, a desire to evoke change for the better, and prompts from residents led him to seek a selectman seat, Carter said.

“There’s been a lot of issues, like the Water Department system and the mill rate increases in the last six years, that I’d like to resolve,” he said.

Voters take to the polls from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 8, at the fire station on Main Street. The annual town meeting begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 12, at Dirigo Middle School.

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