Past and present Bucksport officials elected to council

Bucksport voters chose to go with experience in Tuesday’s local elections.
The town’s incumbent mayor, a former local school board member, and a previous member of the council finished in the top three slots among the seven candidates who ran for town council.
Paul Bissonette, the only incumbent in the race, received the most votes with 1,546. Jennifer Therrien, who served on RSU 25 school board from 2018 to 2020, finished with the second-most votes at 1,267. Paul Rabs, who served on the council from 2015 to 2018, came in third with 773 votes, edging fourth-place finisher Joseph York by a 22-vote margin.
Councilors Paul Gauvin and Daniel Ormsby decided not to run for re-election.
Along with York, candidates Ralph Chapman, Stephen St. Peter and Sarah Falvey fell short in the race for three available seats on the board.
In the race for the RSU 25 school board, incumbent Scott Frazier outpaced challenger Ryan Stackpole by a 2-to-1 ratio. Frazier got 1,565 votes to Stackpole’s 779.
Voters also rejected a charter amendment that would have allowed the town council to directly approve any local bond issue or capital improvement project worth $499,999 or less, without a referendum vote. By rejecting the proposal, voters will continue to have to give their approval to any such project that costs $300,000 or more.