A long campaign season came to a close Friday night as Boothbay Harbor voters gave their final say on Articles 3, 4 and 5 and who should serve as selectmen. By 11 a.m., 218 voters had come through the fire station and by 5 p.m. over 750 had spoken. In the end, 838 ballots were counted representing about 48% of the more than 1,800 voting population. The town clerk had received about 150 absentee ballots since April 4.

The final count for two, three-year term seats for selectmen and overseers of the poor: Mike Tomko, 489; Ken Fitch, 444; Tom Minerich, 316; and Rosemary Bourette, 297. There were 130 blanks. 

Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District Board of Trustees incumbent Ronnie Campbell was reelected with 666 votes (172 blanks); Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District School Committee incumbent Peggy Splaine was reelected with 593 votes (245 blanks); Cemetery District Board of Trustees incumbent Jay D. Warren was reelected with 688 votes (150 blanks); and Boothbay Harbor Sewer District Board of Trustees incumbent Deryl Kipp was reelected with 729 votes (107 blanks).

No one filed papers for the three-year term on the Boothbay Region Water District Board of Trustees. Merritt Blakeslee won the seat with 53 write-in votes (785 blanks).

The three ballot issues all passed – Article 3, 434 “yes” votes to 390 (14 blanks); Article 4, 607 to 219 (12 blanks); and Article 5, 631 to 178 (29 blanks).

Article 3’s passage replaces the Maritime Water Dependent District with two zones: the Limited Commercial/Maritime District and Working Waterfront District and building heights will be raised from the previous maximum height of 30 feet to 35 feet. Article 4’s passage changes town code to reflect Department of Environmental Protection’s standard measurement of building heights in the shoreland zone. Article 5’s passage corrects a grammatical error.

With 596 “yes” votes to 108 “no’s,” and 132 blanks, voters approved the Boothbay Harbor Sewer District ballot measure to pursue a U.S. Department of Agriculture and Rural Development package of up to a $700,000 loan and $200,000 grant to replace a sewer line from Route 27 to Eastern Avenue on Route 96.