RUMFORD — Three people are vying for a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen. One will be elected on Tuesday night.

They are Gregory Buccina, who is seeking re-election, and challengers Mary E. McPherson and former Rumford selectman Kevin N. Saisi.

Buccina, a Rumford native who lives on Maine Avenue, is a 1974 graduate of Rumford High School, and 2005 graduate of the University of Maine at Augusta. He previously served many years as a Rumford selectman, and on the River Valley Growth Council and Finance Committee.

Buccina is employed with Rumford paper mill NewPage Corp.

He said Friday by email that he’s seeking re-election because he enjoys being involved in the decision-making process that includes annual budgets, contract negotiations and decisions made regularly that affect all Rumford residents.

Buccina said he also enjoys interacting with board members, the town manager and residents who share their issues and concerns on how to move Rumford forward.

“I also strongly feel that we are accomplishing this goal, maybe not as quickly sometimes as we’d like, but it is being noticed regionally and statewide that our town is pushing forward,” he said.

“Transparency in local government, setting a good level of service for the fairest price to the citizens, and listening to the citizens to resolve concerns, no matter how small, is what I always work to do”

Buccina has also worked with a group to restart Rumford’s Fourth of July festival, now entering its second year, and helped to create and adopt Rumford’s wind power and taxi cab ordinances.

“I strive to find a balance that will keep our town employees in jobs and benefits, while knowing that I and all taxpayers are supporting those jobs and services,” he said.

“I believe that reason and balance in local government will help Rumford to continue to be solid financially, provide services needed to the citizens, and will look always to get those services at a reasonable cost to those citizens.”

Like Buccina, McPherson, 53, of Isthmus Road, also seeks transparency in local government.

“I want to represent the good people in Rumford on the issues that can be improved upon, as in where we invest our money to improve this area,” she said Thursday afternoon.

“I mean, we live in Vacationland, for crying out loud.”

Although McPherson moved to Rumford in 1990 from New York, she said she’d been coming to town all her life. Her maiden name is Fontaine; her dad’s name was Henry Fontaine.

McPherson graduated from Mexico High School in 1977 and studied business at the University College at Rumford-Mexico. She has worked for Maine Staffing Group, as a waitress here, and in sales, and as a substitute teacher at Mountain Valley Middle School and other area schools for eight years.

Currently unemployed, McPherson said she hasn’t served in municipal government, but she has chaired some committees.

McPherson said she has many ideas for economic development and wants to try to bring them to fruition as a Rumford selectman.

“This is a beautiful area, and we shouldn’t be struggling as much as we are,” she said.

Saisi, 44, of Holyoke Avenue, also has ties to the community. His father was principal of Mexico High School and valedictorian of Stephens High School Class of 1948.

A Connecticut native, Saisi said he relocated to Rumford in 1988 to finish college in 1990 at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Currently employed by Kelloggs Snacks, Saisi chairs the Rumford Comprehensive Plan Committee and is an alternate member of the Rumford Board of Appeals.

An outspoken advocate for economic development, Saisi also founded the River Valley Ideaville community development group and River Valley Tourism Association. He also co-founded the local Public Access television channel.

Saisi said Wednesday that he wants to increase efficiency and grow the tax base “to make taxes stable and affordable while keeping our citizens safe.”

It can be done, he said, through careful planning and collaboration with other towns.

Selectmen, he said, need to pursue economic development and work with nonprofits to help them become more self-sufficient and continue to exist.

“Our town government has overcome its stormy past, and now it is time to begin working on building our town’s future,” Saisi said.

 tkarkos@sunjournal.com

RUMFORD — In other municipal elections, Town Clerk/Treasurer Beth Bellegarde is running unopposed for re-election to a two-year term.

Marcia Chaisson is also running unopposed for re-election to a three-year term as a RSU 10 School Board member.

A three-year term on the Board of Assessors is up for grabs for a write-in candidate.

Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 12, at the American Legion Hall on upper Congress Street.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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