ROCKLAND – Councilors elected Carol Maines mayor Monday night.

Maines defeated two-term incumbent Mayor James Raye and Councilor Becky Gamage. Maines received three votes; Raye, one vote; and Gamage, one vote.

The council elects its mayor each year after the General Election. In voting Nov. 7, longtime Planning Commission member Brian Harden was elected to the council, taking the seat vacated by Elizabeth Stuart.

Harden defeated Lizzie Dickerson. Councilors serve three-year terms.

Raye made it clear that he wanted to be returned for a third term as mayor. The mayor leads the council meetings, and works with the city manager in representing the city on various fronts.

In his tenure, Raye interpreted the position differently than his predecessors, becoming active in the management of the city and taking strong stands on issues. Raye frequently clashed with councilors Maines and Joe Steinberger. Stuart often voted with Steinberger and Maines on key issues.

Raye was an ardent supporter of the bid by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to build a Supercenter store, despite a large, vocal opposition to the plan. Steinberger, Maines and, to some degree, Stuart were more skeptical about the new store, which would have required a council vote to rezone the property. Wal-Mart finally dropped its plans.

Raye also strongly backed a request by Ocean Properties, the owner of the Samoset Resort, for a tax increment financing deal that would give the company a property tax break in exchange for expanding the resort into Rockland. Ocean Properties withdrew its request for a $1.4 million tax break in May when it became clear a majority of the council didn’t support it.

The council subsequently approved a smaller version of the deal.

In the past two weeks, Steinberger led a move to oust Raye as mayor, with Maines agreeing to offer herself as the candidate to replace the incumbent. Harden was seen as the swing vote.

Under the rules, councilors must sign their ballots, which were tabulated by City Clerk Stuart Sylvester. The ballots were available for inspection after the meeting. Along with her own vote, Maines received the votes of Steinberger and Harden.

Raye voted for himself, and Gamage voted for herself.

Rising to the podium after the results of the balloting were read, Maines said, “I have some comments to make,” to which Raye replied, jokingly, “Keep ’em to yourself.”

Maines presented a plaque to Raye from the city, recognizing him for his work as mayor in the last year.

“I think people would agree that no one in recent memory has worked harder than Mayor Raye,” she said. Even though his views were not always shared by his fellow councilors, Maines said, “Everyone knew you did what you could and that you worked hard.”

Maines said that Raye came onto the council promising to focus on tax relief and new business for the city, and that she expected him to continue to work on those issues in the coming year as councilor. She then read a list of the things accomplished during Raye’s tenure.

In 1999, the city was able to cut taxes by 2 percent, she said, noting that Raye was “instrumental” in that achievement.

Raye also focused on harbor management and improvements, lighting and parking upgrades, the move toward regional emergency dispatch, the development of Park Street and Payne Avenue, MBNA moving into the city, the relocation of Fisher Engineering tothe industrial park, and the addition of staff to the Rockland Public Library, Maines said.

“I think you were instrumental in that,” she said of the library.

Raye then rose to speak. He agreed that when he ran for council five years, he said he would focus on business, jobs and taxes.

“Rest assured, I’ll stay fast in my commitment,” he said.

Raye said he would not seek re-election to the council when his term ends next year.