OTISFIELD — Otisfield residents bid goodbye to a longtime tradition at their annual Town Meeting when they voted to change the position of road commissioner from an elected official to an appointed employee of the town, effective with the next fiscal year.

Richard Bean Jr. was elected to a one-year term during the meeting Saturday. His father, Richard Bean Sr., served in the role for more than 50 years.

One resident asked to hear the pros and cons of changing it from an elected role to a town employee.

“Two major reasons,” answered Selectman Lenny Adler. “One is continuity. You hire someone and hope they’ll be there year after year. Richard (Bean Sr.) held the job for a long time. Before him, Pat Dyer and Howard Jackson held it for a long time. One of the disadvantages is that it’s a popularity contest, and we have been very, very lucky that the popularity contest was won by three very, very qualified individuals, including in our vote today.

“But someone can win a popularity contest who is absolutely unqualified to do the job. When that occurs, one of your selectmen ends up as road commissioner. That happened to me a long time ago. We elected a road commissioner who did not know what he was doing. He did not have equipment. By August he had spent all the money and quit.”

Adler added that they had discussed such a change years ago but that Richard Bean Sr. preferred to keep it an annual election so his job would be affirmed by voters every year. But in the future, if someone appealed to voters who was not qualified, they would essentially have a million dollars of taxpayer money to play with.

Another voter was under the impression from discussions he heard at a finance committee meeting that selectmen had no intention of appointing someone to fill the job next year; that they were using the change to reduce staff and would take over the commissioner role themselves. Adler strongly refuted the assertion, with Chairman Hal Ferguson asking why they would not appoint one when Richard Bean Jr.’s term expires in 2022.

In the end, all (including Bean, Jr.) but three residents voted to approve changing the position of road commissioner from elected to appointed by the next fiscal year.

In other ballot votes, Ferguson was the sole nominee for and reelected to the select board. He was also voted to continue serving as board chairman.

Anna Gregoire was elected to serve a three year term on SAD 17’s school board. She was nominated by School Board Director Kristin Roy, whose term expired and chose not to stand for reelection.

All articles for the town’s $2.04 million municipal budget were passed unanimously with minimal questions and no opposition. The meeting was attended by 76 voters.

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