PARIS — Gerald Kilgore and Sam Elliot will be the newest selectmen.

According to unofficial results, Kilgore won a three-year seat, replacing Jean Smart, with 312 votes. Robert Wessels received 261 votes and Alicia Cushman had 99.

Sam Elliot won a one-year seat vacated by Kenneth West with 323 votes, to James Hakala’s 306 votes.

Both candidates have experience on town boards. Kilgore served on the board for 15 years from 1994-2009. Elliot has served on the Budget Committee, school board, appeals board, and was the original chairman of the Conservation Commission.

Kilgore said both his opponents were good people and would have been good selectmen.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said of returning to the board.

He said he hoped to shorten meetings and resolve issues quicker. “They keep postponing things,” Kilgore said. “Get your ducks in a row and bring it to the selectmen’s meeting so we can make a decision.” He said there was no reason for meetings to go several hours.

When Kilgore was chairman of the board, meetings were as short as half an hour. “More people might go if they know they don’t have to stay there all night,” he said.

Elliot said he’d do his best to be a positive force on the board and will focus on fiscal responsibility. “I look forward to creating a little more of a positive image for the board,” he said.

On the Paris Utility District, Edward Chouinard was re-elected with 463 votes and Marjorie Risica was elected to replace Alvin Barth with 372 votes. Both were uncontested.

Curtis Cole was re-elected to the SAD 17 board with 591 votes. Paris counted nearly 700 voters Tuesday with 621 voting in person and 78 absentee votes. Results of the municipal election were not available until Wednesday morning.

Town Clerk Elizabeth Knox said turnout was higher than expected, with the selectmen’s election seeming to draw voters. She said it took until nearly 11 p.m. Tuesday to count all the votes.

Because former Selectman Kenneth West resigned from the board close to the election, the town didn’t have time to create ballots the counting machine could read for the election between Elliot and Hakala, Knox said. Those ballots had to be counted by hand.

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