MECHANIC FALLS — Cathy Fifield, with 95 votes, led the five-person field of candidates seeking two, three-year terms on the town council in Tuesdays municipal election.

Dan Blanchard retained his seat on the council, receiving 76 votes for the other three-year seat.

The remaining three candidates were John Petrocelli Sr., with 71 votes; Richard Wing, with 56; and Shawn Dostie, with 24.

Lou Annance, running unopposed, was elected to the two-year seat on the town council, made available when Peter Ford Sr. stepped down one year into his three-year term.

Jacques “Jack” Wiseman, running unopposed, was also re-elected to another three-year term on the RSU 16 Board of Directors, and Roger Guptill, who also ran unopposed, was elected to a three-year term on the Sanitary District Board of Trustees.

Townspeople also approved the town’s budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, ratifying the $2.4 million budget as proposed by the town council following an open hearing held a week ago.

This is first time the town has used the new format to set the budget.

In November of 2010, voters approved a charter change that replaced the traditional town meeting with a public hearing on a proposed budget followed by a referendum ballot.

Voters approved all of the 34 separate questions into which the regular town budget was divided, plus two additional questions that sought permission to draw money from the town’s fund balance.

Voters also approved taking $95,000 from town funds to serve as a match for a federal grant  for a wood-to-energy boiler to replace the current oil-fired system by a vote of 137-45.

A request to use up to $70,000 from fund balance to pay for lights for the municipal ball field passed by a vote of 91-86.