Lowell elected to selectboard

BUCKFIELD -- Buckfield voters have been fickle about their selectmen.

As a result, 53-year-old John Lowell has become the most on-again, off-again selectman in the region.

"Do you jump in for a short term or not?" Lowell asked. "I want to be involved, and if you don't do it, you'll never get back on the horse."

In 2008, Lowell was elected to serve out the term of Oscar Gammon, who died while in office.

He served for approximately 18 months, until 2009.

At that time, Lowell narrowly lost a bid for reelection against Robin Buswell.

Over the summer, Buckfield's finicky voters have created another mid-term opening by initiating a recall movement directed against Floyd "Chip" Richardson, who resigned rather than face a recall.

And who did they elect to fill the void?

Lowell, the man they had rejected just a year before.

"I don't anticipate getting back in just for a short term," said Lowell. "My intent is to do a good job, and hopefully in a few months, we'll go back and try the election process again."

Lowell has an idea about what makes good government.

"The two things you need is structure, and involvement of other people," he said. "You want as many people involved as possible, because if you try to take it all on yourself, you're done. Once you do that, you have more eyes and see good healthy debate."

Lowell says that Buckfield is facing growing pains.

"I think the biggest thing is our town is growing," he said. "Taxes are obviously on everybody's plate. What do towns need from a revenue standpoint, and what about people's abilities to pay taxes."

The town's growth has to be weighed against the financial realities of its residents.

"You have people on fixed incomes, and if you keep growing, and asking more, people look at you and say, 'where is that money going to come from?'" said Lowell. "We're all in that boat. That is one of the biggest things we're going to be looking at."

This time around, Lowell received a whopping 61 percent of the vote in a three-way race. He netted 515 votes, as compared to 183 for Martha Catevenis and 150 for Dean Wilfred.

That's a bigger vote of confidence than he received the last time around, when he gained 40 percent of the vote in a four-way race.

"That was very encouraging," said Lowell. "I'm quite humbled by that turnout, and that size of the vote. It's great, look at the interest. For a short term like this, we had three people running. Win lose or draw, the system has won. The participation is the most important thing."

Even though he's been elected, Lowell shouldn't get too comfortable in that chair.

His three-year term is up in just eight months.

At that point, it will be up to the voters of Buckfield to decide whether he ought to stay in office, or whether they will transfer their allegiance to the next candidate who comes along.