AUGUSTA — Residents elected Annalee Morris-Polley to an at-large seat on the Augusta City Council, as the newcomer beat two opponents in the race to fill the spot.
Morris-Polley, in unofficial results, received 3,601 votes, topping Bobby-Jo Bechard’s 2,735 and Joseph Wathen’s 2,149, to take a seat currently held by Abigail St. Valle, who did not take out papers seeking reelection.
None of the three candidates have held elected positions in the city before.
Morris-Polley, 46, owner of a mental health and substance use agency licensed by the state, said during the election she ran for council because she’s lived in Augusta more than 40 years — where her family has lived for three generations — and she believed it’s important to have local people on the City Council who know the area, and know what people want Augusta to be.
In a three-way race to fill two at-large spots on the Augusta Board of Education, April Ambrose, with 4,919 votes, and Jonathan Reynolds, with 3,624 votes, took the seats, beating out Jane Maguire-Tyce, who received 3,015 votes.
They will replace board members Kevin Lamoreau and Pia Holmes, whose terms expire at the end of the year.
Damboise, 49, is a nurse practitioner and Reynolds, 33, is a community organizer for Mobilized Recovery.
Incumbents Mayor Mark O’Brien, who received 8,463 votes; Ward 2 City Councilor Kevin Judkins, who received 1,805 votes; and Ward 3 Board of Education member James Orr, who received 1,823 votes, were reelected in uncontested races.
Augusta voters also approved a request to borrow just under $5.5 million for capital improvement projects by a vote of 6,023-2,563.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
