I’ve always thought New Sharon was a town worth watching. As a teenager, I’d hear about the academic achievements of New Sharon High School students. A class of 10 once boasted seven National Merit scholars.

I was also a bit awed by the athletic prowess of its Little League teams that used to routinely score more runs than the Farmington team on which I played. I also remember the smell of the baked beans flowing out of the kitchens of its church vestries on Saturday night. They were meals that would draw patrons from several surrounding towns, including those of us who traveled from some 10 miles away.

Similar public benefits in Farmington or Rumford in those days might only draw 40 or 50, but the same event hosted by a New Sharon organization would often draw several times that number. How ironic that a town with only about one-eighth the population would host community events that would draw several times as many patrons.

Today, almost 40 years later, neither the recipe for the baked beans nor its participatory spirit seems to have abated.

The most recent test of the latter came just a few days ago with the convening of a special town meeting to fill a vacancy on the board of selectmen. The 130 or so who turned out was a refreshing reminder that in a bowling-alone era there are still some who are not content to remain at home.

Meet Jim Smith and Maynard Webster. Recall also the name Bill Lane. Until Lane’s unexpected death at 61 in what was scheduled to be a routine surgical operation in April, this indomitable triumvirate had served 88 terms as members of the town’s board of selectmen. John F. Kennedy was just beginning his seventh week in office when Smith was tapped on the shoulder to serve his first term in 1961. Champagne glasses from Jimmy Carter’s inauguration had just barely dried when Webster first raised his hand to take the oath of office as a board member in 1977. Some graduates of Ph.D. programs this spring were still toddlers when Lane arrived in 1979. Even without his six-year leave of absence from the board from 1988 to 1994, Lane would still have been the junior member in length of service at the time of his death. As it was, he had been in office 19-years.

I’m going to nominate this team as having held a collective longevity record for any three persons sitting on the same elective town or city board of its kind in Maine, the average tenure of this board’s members until Lane’s death: more than 29 years. The record is particularly remarkable when one considers that the board has always been elected for the shortest term possible under Maine law – one year.

Thus, Bill Lane’s death triggered one of the few occasions in decades when there would be no incumbent running for a member of the most seasoned elective executive board in Maine. The election assumed greater importance in New Sharon than it would in most other towns because the governing council in New Sharon is only a three-member board. With Lane’s death, it was down to only two, Smith and Webster.

The drama in New Sharon was at a higher pitch than one finds in most other Maine towns because no one knows for sure who’ll be running until a few minutes before the voting occurs. Candidate intentions, to be sure, were announced a few days in advance but the official list doesn’t get put together until someone is nominated at the meeting. That night, for example, a prominent former town official assumed to be in the running was not, in fact, placed in nomination, effectively leaving the field to three remaining contenders.

What happened next is also a feature that one has to look hard to find elsewhere in Maine town or city meetings. This was a speech by each of the candidates in the moments before the vote itself. Here they were, face to face, all candidates responding to the occasional question of and in direct contact with the jurors in whose hands they had placed their electoral fate.

A written, but promptly tabulated, initial vote only added to the suspense. For in another spin on the democratic process, no candidate could be deemed elected until a majority – in other words more than 50 percent – had been achieved. In the three way race that night in New Sharon that didn’t happen. New Sharon thus moved on to what all Maine towns once had but which very few still do, an almost instantaneous runoff election.

At that point, the two remaining candidates were pressed even closer for their outlook and objectives. The contest was now joined between Russ Gardner and Garry Mayo. Gardner spoke of growth and roads. For Mayo, it was growth and the cost of local education. In the presentations, one was also reminded not only by what the two finalists said but also by somewhat contrasting athletic appearances. Mayo, was the taller and more massive appearing. I’d put him in as the offensive tackle on a football team. Gardner, was a bit shorter and somewhat quicker but still physically solid and agile, I’d put on the roster as a running back. The final score gave Gardner three more than the majority of the 128 points needed. He will fill Bill Lane’s well-worn shoes in this vibrant Maine town and unique laboratory of democracy.

Paul H. Mills is a Farmington attorney well known for his analyses and historical understanding of Maine’s political scene. He can be reached by e-mail: pmills@midmaine.com.

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