Madelyn Hennessey will serve another three-year term on the West Bath Select Board after defeating challenger Marc Travis.
Hennessey, who was first elected to the board six years ago, received 439 votes compared to Travis’ 339. In total, 847 West Bath residents voted in Tuesday’s election, according to West Bath Town Clerk Karly Perry.
“I’m really gratified,” Hennessey said Tuesday. “I continue to hope that my service to the town will be creative, help with problem solving, and contribute to a sense of neighborliness.”
Hennessey said she ran for reelection because she wanted to continue working on projects like updating the town’s comprehensive plan, which she said is “long overdue” and needs to be “re-written in a simplified way so it’s easier for people to understand.”
Hennessey also said she’s interested in seeing the results of a town-wide property revaluation, which voters approved at the annual town meeting earlier this year. The revaluation is scheduled to happen between July 2022 and June 2023.
Municipalities assess properties to determine their tax rate and distribute the tax burden among property owners. But values change over time, so municipalities periodically have to conduct re-evaluations, adjusting currently assessed values to the market rate.
“Town government is always unfinished because things are always evolving,” said Hennessey.
“We’ve achieved a goal of having a full-time codes enforcement officer and I’m looking forward to seeing how his input will help shape some of our land use ordinances,” she said. “He’s very aware of how codes are changing that will impact the lives of people in the town.”
Looking into the future, Hennessey said she’d like to help the town develop a maintenance plan for town roads and infrastructure to ensure they’re sturdy and able to withstand symptoms of climate change like stronger storms and rising sea levels.
West Bath school board election
Incumbents Keith Hinds and Joanne Powers were also re-elected to their positions on the West Bath school board after running unopposed. Hinds is chair of the board and Powers serves as vice chair.
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