AUBURN — Gov. Paul LePage has named Auburn Realtor Beth Bell to the Androscoggin County Commission, filling the seat vacated by new Auburn Mayor Jonathan LaBonte.
The 51-year-old Bell, who is scheduled to be sworn in Friday morning, was picked from a pool of applicants that included former Auburn City Councilor Ron Potvin, Lawrence McCarthy of Mechanic Falls and former congressional candidate Jason Levesque of Auburn.
Bell said Tuesday she was honored by the appointment and planned to do her best to serve. She is scheduled to serve the remaining year of LaBonte’s four-year term. She will represent Auburn, Minot, Mechanic Falls and Poland.
“I have been reading up a lot and seeing how municipal and county government works together,” Bell said. “I have really felt a personal obligation to be more involved and try to be part of the solution rather than complaining.”
Bell currently serves as the secretary of Auburn’s Republican Party.
Levesque, a Republican, called Bell “a wonderful person” and said he was looking forward to seeing her work as a commissioner.
By contrast, Potvin, a longtime Republican, said he was “disgusted” by the appointment, particularly with Bell’s comparative lack of government experience. Potvin has served on a variety of city boards and ran unsuccessful campaigns for the state House of Representatives and state Senate. He has also worked as a corrections officer in the Androscoggin County Jail for 12 years.
“It just amazes me that someone with no affiliations or experience is going to be making decisions for the county,” Potvin said.
On Tuesday, Potvin left the Republican party.
“I will be running against her as an independent next year,” Potvin said.
The three-member commission will likely face some big issues in the coming months, including the fate of county dispatching and potentially planning the renovation of the aging county building.
Bell said she feels qualified to take on the role, largely because of her work in the business community.
The Lisbon native earned her real estate license at age 18.
She graduated from Endicott College with an applied science degree, she said. She moved to the West for three years before returning to Maine.
Bell has been a landlord for 27 years. She has also done freelance interior design work and consulting for construction and renovation projects. She currently sells properties for Allen and Selig Realty, based in Freeport.
She and her husband, Gordon Bell, settled in Auburn 11 years ago. They have two adult children, one from Auburn and the other a student at the University of Southern Maine.
“I want to be involved,” Bell said. “I want to make positive change.”
One priority is keeping taxes down, she said. She plans to look for efficiencies to prevent county taxes from getting any higher.
“I personally hope to hold budgets without compromising service,” she said.
dhartill@sunjournal.com
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- Gov. Paul LePage has appointed Beth Bell of Auburn to serve on the three-member Androscoggin County Commission. She will replace Jonathan LaBonte, who vacated his seat on Dec. 21 when he was sworn in as Auburn’s mayor.
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