February 15, 2025
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Dover-Foxcroft candidates share views, goals

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Dover-Foxcroft residents had an opportunity Tuesday to learn about the visions and goals of candidates seeking public office, but few took advantage of the offering.

Community First, a nonpartisan group organized to support positive and productive participation in town government, sponsored its second annual panel discussion featuring candidates for selectmen and the school board. Thomas Kittredge was moderator.

Participating on the panel were James Annis, Stephen Grammont and Joyce Perry, candidates for selectmen, and Alexandria Boyer, a write-in candidate for school board. Elwood Edgerly and Richard Stites, candidates for selectmen who were unable to attend, submitted background material ahead of time. Elections will be held on June 10.

Annis, a legislator who will term out in December, said he would work to bring a department store to the community to add jobs and bring more products. He said his experience as a state legislator would benefit the town since he has established contacts at the state level and understands the process. “I think I have a lot to offer Dover-Foxcroft,” Annis said. One of the greatest challenges for the town is “keeping taxes down,” he said, and toward that end, the town needs more businesses and should look to consolidate more within departments.

Incumbent Elwood Edgerly, a selectman for 12 years, wrote he wanted to continue to support the town in its need to invest in its infrastructure. The plumbing business owner feels his knowledge of wastewater and stormwater systems and equipment operation will help the town. For the town to grow, it must provide good services to its residents and businesses, like roads and good schools, he noted. The greatest challenge is keeping up with the facilities and infrastructure, he wrote.

The owner of a pub-style restaurant and a software business in town, Grammont sees infrastructure as the greatest challenge for the town. “If you build and maintain a wonderful community, people will recognize that,” and they will move to the community, he said. Grammont said the town must try to balance its expenses yet not cut off services. Most of the town’s weaknesses are geographical. For example, the town needs good Internet services. He said town officials should work with residents to prioritize the town’s future needs.

Incumbent Perry, a selectman for five years, said she wanted to see the completion of projects she has been involved in, including the relocation of the town office to the former elementary school building. Perry, who helped initiate a petition drive for the revision of the town’s charter, said the town’s greatest challenge is “change.” “I’m willing to speak outside the box, and I think I bring diversity,” she said. Perry said the town needed to grow to help keep taxes down.

Stites, who retired from the Department of Transportation, wrote he would bring “new and fresh” ideas to the board and that his leadership would demand accountability and good management skills. He noted his job would be to answer to the taxpayers. As to the greatest challenge to the town, Stites wrote that it’s not to become a center for nonprofit organizations. He said the town needs to take care of its own, not the entire county. Light manufacturing businesses in the town’s industrial park is a must, as is “good name-known” restaurants and motels, he wrote.

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