Despite a difference of one vote during Monday’s ballot recount for an at-large seat on the Freeport Town Council, incoming councilor Bill Rixon still claimed the seat, edging out longtime council member Rich DeGrandpre by a five-vote margin.

A newcomer to town politics, Rixon won the seat 2,076-2,071 in the final count, with 17 write-ins and 544 blanks.

“I always felt that it was going to be a close race, and it did turn out to be,” said Rixon in a Monday phone interview with The Times Record. “I am happy that I was on the positive side.”

According to Town Clerk Tracey Stevens, the recount began at 8 a.m. at the Freeport Town Hall and sped by faster than expected, ending at 10:45 a.m. Stevens said that 4,700 ballots had to be hand counted by six teams of three, each with one person selected by DeGrandpre, one by Rixon, and one recount assistant hired by the town.

“I was expecting the process to take until about 2 (p.m.) but there weren’t really any disputed ballots,” said Stevens, noting that the ballot machines, used for the third time this gubernatorial election, appear to be “99.99 percent accurate.”

DeGrandpre said in a Nov. 13 interview with The Times Record that he requested a recount because of the narrow margin between the candidates, at the time only six votes, and said the recount was an “audit” of how the voting machines tallied incorrectly marked ballots.

Rixon, a resident of Freeport for roughly 30 years, is a retired high school science teacher who taught at Greely High School in Cumberland for 28 years.

This is his first time running for public office. Rixon became involved in local politics as a member of a group that circulated a petition in favor of bringing Metro services to Freeport.

“I went to a town council meeting this past summer in August when one of the agenda items was to talk about the Metro,” said Rixon. “At the time, DeGrandpre was opposed to it, and he was running for the at-large seat unopposed, so I thought I would run against him.”

In an Aug. 12 article, The Times Record reported DeGrandpre stating at a council meeting that he had heard feedback from constituents that were not favorable of the project. In a Sept. 17 article, however, The Times Record reported that DeGrandpre had revised his position at a council meeting after hearing additional feedback and voted in favor of the Metro expansion.

While in office, Rixon said he is interested exploring issues relating to Freeport’s sustainability, particularly regarding solar farm initiatives.

“There is a solar array on the town library and that has been a very successful initiative,” said Rixon. “There have been proposals to put solar panels on the maintenance building and I think that is something I would be very interested in pursuing.”

To begin with, however, Rixon said he is most interested in listening and learning more about how the town functions.

“One of the things I found heartening during the campaign is that I met a lot of wonderful people in town that I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” said Rixon. “Learning more about this community is just fascinating to me.”

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