WINSLOW — Residents on Tuesday elected an incumbent and former Fourth of July Committee member to a pair of seats on the Town Council.
Winning the council seats were incumbent Ken Fletcher, who won with 2,949 votes; and Jeff West, who never has held an elective office before, coming in second with 2,199 votes.
William Sadulsky, 69, a political newcomer, was unsuccessful with 1,196 votes.
Fletcher, 70, has served two terms on the council. He was first elected in 2010. Before that, he served in the Maine House of Representatives for eight years and was director of the governor’s energy office for two years. He worked at the Scott Paper Co. for 25 years and is now retired.
“I’m very honored and very thankful to the people of Winslow who have placed their trust in me, and I’ll work hard to make sure that I earn that,” Fletcher said on Wednesday.
Fletcher ran again because he wants to be a part of upcoming decisions on issues such as street maintenance and school consolidation.
“I believe my experience would be helpful as we do make those decisions,” he said in a previous interview.
He also pointed out that the state cut revenue cost sharing, which shifted more costs onto local governments such as Winslow. Fletcher hopes he can use his previous political experience to work as a local official with legislators to address problems, such as the cuts to revenue sharing or the opiate epidemic, which affect towns statewide.
West, 44, who has never run for an elective office before but has sat on the Winslow Fourth of July Committee and various boards for youth sports, said previously that he wanted to run for council to make a difference and that he takes “a lot of pride in this town.”
West has worked at a local communications company since 1993 and graduated from Winslow High School in 1990.
He wants to focus on preventing tax increases, he said, adding that he thinks the councilors have done a good job controlling the town’s finances so far. He said he supports a “common-sense approach” to cutting and spending town money.
Madeline St. Amour — 861-9239
mstamour@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @madelinestamour
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