Both candidates for third selectman in Alna say they would like to see people get along with one another when discussing town business. Incumbent David Reingardt and his challenger, longtime Alna Planning Board Chairman Douglas Baston, have the only contest in the town’s Friday, March 20 elections.

Melissa Spinney is the lone candidate on the ballot for second selectman. The seat’s current holder Jonathan Villeneuve did not seek a third term. Road Commissioner Jeff Verney and Treasurer Aaron Miller are each unopposed in their reelection bids.

Barbara Baston is unopposed for a Regional School Unit 12 seat she has held since James Bailey resigned from it in 2014.

Polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Alna Fire Station on Route 218.

David Reingardt

Reingardt is seeking a third, two-year term as third selectman. “I want to see continuity. I think we’ve worked hard at trying to find a little bit of peace in this town. We don’t fight so much,” he said.

Less fighting makes for better decisions, he said. “Hopefully we can come to the middle of the road instead of swinging to all one side or the other. I think that’s what I’ve pursued.”

He would like progress to continue in diffusing divisiveness that he said still occurs in town, such as when some residents in 2014 tried to stop the board’s agreement with a snowplowing contractor.

“I do believe that’s unethical,” Reingardt said. All town issues, regardless of what they are, should be handled in a manner that makes sense, he said. “And that’s something I will stand for.”

Residents should pick a selectman they think will “stand up to what goes on and for what needs to go on,” Reingardt said. “It really comes down to that.”

Asked to describe his approach to issues, Reingardt said: “I think a strong point of mine is I’m not afraid to approach issues. He cited his willingness to have a new town committee on Head Tide Dam, after two organizations made the request. The board recently approved creating the committee.

“You can’t put your head in the sand,” he said.

Looking ahead to the next two years, Reingardt expects the board to face the challenge of trying to keep taxes from rising. “There’s just going to be a lot of issues coming to a head here, and it’s all about money ... Our town office needs work. We’re not sure what the governor is going to push through ... I don’t see our taxes going down. But the trick is to try to figure out how we can do that, which won’t be an easy feat.”

The board’s bid policy, in use since shortly after he joined the board four years ago, has saved the town money in some areas, he said.

Reingardt works in the commercial fishing industry. He moved to Alna about 10 years ago from his native Rhode Island.

Douglas Baston

Baston served as an Alna selectman for about four years in the early 1990s. Before then, and since he completed his selectman’s service, he has been on the Alna Planning Board. He has been its chairman for several years.

If elected to the third selectman’s seat, he will leave the planning board, he said. Baston is a past member of the Alna Fire Department and the Committee for Alna History. He has also served on ad hoc committees including one when the town office was moved several years ago.

Asked why he is seeking to return to the board of selectmen, Baston said: “I would like to reduce some of the drama in town politics ... I prefer to do things by consensus. And in a small town, when you have a divided vote, that means ... there’s probably a point of view in the community that feels that it lost and that someone else won, and that’s never a good dynamic.

“You can’t always promise that you’ll have consensus, but it should be your objective,” he said.

Baston said another reason he is running is so that could serve again with First Selectman David Abbott, who was also on the board when he was two decades ago. Abbott has a lot common sense and understands the mechanics of running a town, Baston said.

Among the themes he is hearing from residents is concern about taxes, Baston said. As a selectman, he would call on Regional School Unit 12 to do all it can, just as Town Clerk Amy Warner has done, to prevent people from falsely claiming they live in Alna for the tuition, he said. “I think it’s the selectmen’s job to keep the heat on the RSU to make sure that when those cases are uncovered, they’re not only stopped, but that we attempt to recover the money.”

The Sanford native moved to Alna about 30 years ago from Oregon. He has had a business, North Atlantic Energy Advisors, for about 25 years and is starting to wind it down, he said. Baston works mostly from home, advising utilities and governments on alternative energy and energy efficiency.

Melissa Spinney

Spinney, unopposed in her bid for the second selectman’s seat, said that her work in research and statistics should be helpful in her service on the board. “I’m a scientist by nature, so I’m pretty good at looking at data, and understanding things and putting them together.”

But she said the strongest asset she would bring to the board is that she cares about Alna residents.

Working from home gives her the time it would take to serve as selectman, she said. She has no specific issues she plans to address. “I just have to get in there and see what’s going on before making any decisions about anything,” she said. After living in Alna about five years, she said she still has more to learn about the town. “I’d like to learn,” she said.

The Pennsylvania-raised Spinney moved to Alna from Oregon, where she worked in research on premature brain injury. She has a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She has done a lot of volunteer work, including mentoring and tutoring children, she said.