Otisfield announced Oct. 1 that Brendan Bedell won a seat on the Select Board in a three-way special election. He replaced its former vice chairman, Lenny Adler, who had been reelected to the seat June 28 but died less than two weeks later.

Bedell received 170 of 263 votes cast in the election. His opponents, Alissa Leonard and George Gallant, received 73 and 17 votes respectively. Three ballots were submitted blank.

This was Bedell’s third run since Otisfield residents voted at their 2023 annual town meeting to expand the Select Board from three to five members, starting in 2024.

In 2024, Bedell lost his 2024 bid to Anne Pastore, former town administrator of Otisfield, and Frank Blauvelt Jr.

This year, he ran against Adler and again came up short, by just five votes.

When Adler addressed townspeople ahead of that election, he endorsed Bedell as his possible successor, saying his motivation to run for a final term was to lend his many years of knowledge as its two newer members gained experience in their roles.

“Brendan is a good candidate and will make a good selectman,” Adler said then, while reminding voters of his 50 years of service to the town in various leadership roles.

Bedell joins Pastore and Blauvelt as Otisfield’s newest selectman, in addition to long-serving Chairman Hal Ferguson and Vice Chair Rick Micklon.

Bedell sits on Otisfield’s Finance Committee and was previously an alternate on its Planning Board.