BUCKFIELD — Michael Iveson has resigned his seat on the Select Board, and it was reluctantly accepted at Monday’s meeting.
His wife, Janet Iveson, who was also a selectman, died in March.
In his resignation letter, Michael Iveson wrote, “I have enjoyed working with you. I feel that you need a selectperson who can participate more than I am able to.”
A homeowner in town since the 1970s, Iveson was first elected to the board in 2016. He stepped down for personal reasons in 2017, but returned to the board in 2021, along with his wife. They provided needed guidance and advice to the other board members when the town was mired in financial difficulties brought on by poor record keeping and a revolving door of town managers.
Several current selectmen noted that Iveson helped mentor them when they first joined the board.
An election to fill Iveson’s seat will be held Nov. 7. Nomination papers will be available beginning Aug. 18 and are due at the Town Office on Sept. 27.
Also submitting his resignation Monday night was Robert Larrabee, the town’s longtime animal control officer. Larrabee provided Town Manager Cameron Hinkley with a couple of names for his possible replacement.
In other business, the board unanimously approved the appointment of Stacy Blaquiere as rescue chief. She succeeds longtime Chief Floyd “Chip” Richardson, who resigned in March. For the past few months, Blaquiere served as deputy chief under interim Chief Cassie Greenwood.
The board approved several appointments to committees. Cory Nicholson, Terri St. Amant, David Soncrant and Selectman Heather Henley were named to the Events Committee; Richard Irons and Nicholson to the Old Church on the Hill Committee; and Jerald Wiley reappointed to the Road Committee for three years.
The ad-hoc cemetery committee reported on its effort to update the boundaries and lot numbers for the town’s 22 cemeteries and compare their research with the tax map.
Committee members Vivian Wadas, Lillian Clough, Deirdre Newton and Linda Cooper have visited most of the cemeteries and filled out checklists on the cemeteries’ condition. They noted that there are several broken cemetery stones.
The next Select Board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22.
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