AUBURN – Randall Greenwood, a longtime Wales selectman and the former owner of Mixers bar in Sabattus, plans to challenge Chairman Elmer Berry for his seat on the three-member Androscoggin County Commission.

Greenwood and Berry are the only commission candidates to meet this week’s deadline for their names to appear on the Republican and Democratic party primary ballots.

The two will face each other in the November election.

No independent candidate has joined the commission election, though that may be inevitable, particularly since no one filed to run for the seat occupied by Constance Cote of Auburn.

Cote, a veteran commissioner who has been suffering with medical issues, has attended few meetings in recent months. She did not return phone calls this week.

To Berry, the choice to run for re-election was simple, he said.

“I didn’t think it was the right time for a change,” said the former state legislator who has spent eight years on the commission. “I’m probably one of the most experienced people in county government in Maine.”

Issues such as the planned statewide integration of the county jails demand experience, said Berry, 71, of Greene.

Greenwood, 35, figures a new perspective might ease problems that cropped up last year. He was embarrassed by the 2007 disputes between the commission and Sheriff Guy Desjardins. They included a lawsuit and a departmentwide call for Berry’s resignation.

“We need some change at the county level,” Greenwood said. He hopes to be a voice of moderation.

“It’s something I feel I can make a difference in,” he said. During the mid-1990s, he served a term as a member of the county budget committee. He has been saddened by annual increases in the county portion of local property taxes, he said.

However, Berry insisted that the past year was not difficult. After all, the lawsuit ended with a favorable decision for the county, he said.

“We did our homework,” Berry said.

Berry is the owner of Sparta Vending and American Abatement in Lewiston.

Greenwood sold Mixers about a year and a half ago. He works as general manager of Elizabeth Ann General Store in Lewiston.