WATERFORD – Three months after resigning from the Board of Selectmen, William “Whizzer” Wheeler was re-elected Wednesday.

Three residents had campaigned to finish Wheeler’s term, which ends in March. Douglas Bradley received 68 votes; Stuart Davis, 71; and David Hart, 44. Wheeler’s 117 write-in votes made him the clear winner of the race.

“That’s great, and I am tickled pink,” Wheeler said on hearing the news Thursday night.

Wheeler said he didn’t campaign for write-in votes but had hoped to be able to serve the remainder of his term.

“It’s wonderful that people took an awful lot of effort to write-in,” he said. “It certainly is a vindication of where the selectmen are going to make this town hopefully a better place.”

Wheeler resigned on July 12 because of pressure from the watchdog group, Take Back Our Waterford. The group launched a petition at the town’s annual Fourth of July parade asking for a recall vote of the outspoken selectman.

Wheeler stepped down from the board before a vote could be held, stating that the divisiveness in the town had caused undue stress on his family and made it hard for the selectmen to conduct town business.

Take Back Our Waterford member Deborah “Rickie” Hall said in July that the group had collected more than 140 signatures on the recall petition. Only 127 signatures were needed to bring about a recall vote.

Member Paul Hersey said in a phone interview Wednesday that he does not personally feel it is necessary to hold a recall vote now that Wheeler has been re-elected.

“I congratulate him on a nice stealth campaign,” he said. “I’d rather see him in office so we can hold him accountable.”

Many members of the watchdog group were upset about Wheeler’s disposition, which Hersey has described as “explosive.” Other concerns were Waterford’s tax code, largely developed by Wheeler, and land-use ordinances that Wheeler backed at last year’s town meeting. The tax code instituted by selectmen during Wheeler’s term significantly increased taxes on properties on Bear and McWain ponds and Keoka Lake.

Taxes were the hot topic at a candidates’ forum held last week, and residents have continued to pepper selectmen with questions about their taxes since Wheeler’s resignation. Recently, though, the divisiveness that Wheeler saw has abated somewhat. At the Aug. 21 selectmen’s meeting, residents offered to help enter the town’s tax cards into its computer system, and asked selectmen to form a committee on which residents could help “fix” the town’s taxes.

Wheeler will be sworn in Thursday, at which time the selectmen will decide on a day and time to hold regular meetings.