Waldoboro voters will elect two select board members on Tuesday, June 9.
Waldoboro Select Board Chair John Blodgett is seeking reelection for a second term. William Bragg, Ann Leamon, and Shane McGarvey are also seeking to join the board for a three-year term. Michael Thayer is not seeking reelection.
In other municipal elections, Seth Hall, Sonja Sleeper, Robert Smith, and Melvin Williams are on the ballot for two seats on the RSU 40 Board of Directors. Williams, the incumbent, died suddenly on May 17 after the legal deadline for reprinting election materials. No votes cast for him will be counted.
John Berges, Robert Butler, and Jann Minzy are vying for the four open seats on the budget committee.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9 at the municipal building, at 1600 Atlantic Highway, or by absentee ballot. For more information, go to waldoboromaine.org or call 832-5369.
John Blodgett
John Blodgett (Courtesy photo)
Blodgett, the board’s current chair, said he decided to run for reelection after several people asked him to run for another term. He said he did not need to think very long on that decision.
“The last three years was definitely a learning experience,” he said. “I’ve been around the municipal government for a number of years one way or another, but as far as being on the board, there’s some ins and outs of it that I didn’t realize.”
Blodgett said he has seen the start of a lot of great things over the past three years, and he would like to be on the select board as those come to fruition, including the Medomak River Community Park and the traffic calming project for downtown.
Blodgett was previously a member of the budget committee and a captain on the Waldoboro Fire Department for many years. He is very involved in the annual Waldoboro Day celebration and was chair of the Waldoboro 250th Celebration Committee.
Blodgett said he brings the knowledge of a lifelong resident of Waldoboro to his position on the select board.
“I am born, raised, educated, and been a resident of Waldoboro my entire life,” he said, “even though my life isn’t over yet.”
Even when he was away in the Marine Corp for 21 years, Blodgett said he was still a Waldoboro resident and kept up with what was happening in town because he was planning to put down his long-term roots.
Also helpful are his experiences from the military and the Marine Corp, where he learned leadership and communication skills, and how to listen to the wants and needs of other people, and then make rational, common-sense decisions.
If reelected, Blodgett said he would continue to listen to other people and accommodate their ideas.
“I try and treat everyone as an individual, as a different person,” he said. “Everyone has different views and ideas.”
He would also like to find ways to increase activity in the village and bring more business to town, which may involve working with the Waldoboro Planning Board.
Blodgett said the recent housing study made him realize the board had to take some actions.
“The average cost of a home in Waldoboro is $400,000,” he said. “How can a young couple come into town and live and sustain themselves on the cost of a $400,000 mortgage payment? We have to find ways to help that out.”
Blodgett likes to spend time with his family and go boating.
William Bragg
William Bragg has lived in Waldoboro his whole life. In past interviews, he has said he enjoys hunting and fishing and does not care for travel.
Bragg has had a long career in public safety, including law enforcement, emergency medical services, and as a firefighter. He has worked as a mechanic and as a process server.
Bragg has made multiple runs to join the select board, the most recent in 2025.
Phone calls were made to Bragg and messages were left on Thursday, May 28, Saturday, May 30, and Monday, June 1.
Ann Leamon
Ann Leamon (Courtesy photo)
Leamon has lived in Waldoboro almost five years. She grew up in Maine, moved away, and has lived in other states and other countries.
Leamon is a member of the town’s economic development committee and sits on the board of the Friends of the Waldoboro Library, where she coordinated the speaker series.
Leamon said she is running for the select board because she wants to contribute her skills and experiences to help Waldoboro meet the challenges the town is facing, particularly housing and jobs.
She said meeting these challenges is going to require a lot of research, including a close look at the housing study the town just produced. She said this study is going to be very valuable for the town.
“I think this is just super important, super helpful, to help us understand and really pinpoint what our needs are and to start putting together material for when grant opportunities come up,” she said.
Leamon said Waldoboro is a town and not a landlord, so it should not be maintaining or running housing, but the town can play an important role in helping groups who want to create housing.
If elected, Leamon said she would like to put together a database of abandoned homes in town. This could be a valuable resource the town could provide to groups looking to purchase land or to build housing. It could also provide valuable data about the abandoned housing in Waldoboro.
Leamon has spent 25 years studying entrepreneurship, job creation, and venture capital funding for jobs, and she has a master’s degree in urban development. She said this gives her a unique suite of knowledge, including methods that have been used to do redevelopment.
She is experienced at working in a collaborative environment, and she knows the importance of having a calm reasoned and multifaceted approach to making decisions. She said being on the select board means listening to the other members, even if she does not agree with them.
“I have to come at it from the perspective that everybody is trying to do the best they can for the citizens of Waldoboro,” she said.
Ultimately, Leamon said, it is important to hear different opinions in order to prevent groupthink. The end result of discussions may not be what she wants, but it will end up being better for the town.
“I’m just one person,” she said. “I have lots of ideas, and lots of my ideas are bad. What I hope is by providing ideas, we end up with a strategy that is better than anything any of us would have done by ourselves.”
In her free time, Leamon likes to go kayaking and hike with her corgi-Lab mix. She is a voracious reader of all genres, and she loves to bake.
Shane McGarvey
Shane McGarvey (Courtesy photo)
McGarvey has lived in Waldoboro since 2000. He grew up in New York and moved to California after high school. He thinks Waldoboro is an amazing town
He owns Applecroft Catering and is a family man, with five children who attend three different schools in the community. He has been a second alternate member of the Waldoboro Planning Board for less than a year.
McGarvey is running for select board because he really loves the town and after joining the planning board, he found he really enjoys municipal work and being involved on that level. In a town the size of Waldoboro, McGarvey said, it is possible to have a real impact.
“I love everyone at the town office,” he said. “Just being involved in the community at that level has been really enjoyable.”
While it seems that people are so divided over politics online, McGarvey said municipal work is largely isolated from that.
“We’re just neighbors trying to send our kids to school, have decent roads, and approve new buildings,” he said. “It has nothing to do with divisive national politics.”
McGarvey said it has been really fun to watch the town grow during the past few years, and to see all these small businesses come to town.
“I love seeing that, and want to get involved in the town to support that in any way I can,” he said.
McGarvey said even though Waldoboro has amazing natural beauty and homegrown small businesses, it is a drive-through town traditionally. If he is elected, he would like to see the municipal officials encourage people to stop in town during that drive.
“We need to capture this money that’s going through the town,” he said.
McGarvey said maybe Waldoboro could even organize a town festival, like Pumpkinfest or the Lobster Festival; something that would attract tourists to come and spend money. Waldoboro Day is awesome, he said, but that is more of a celebration for the residents of town rather than drawing in people from away.
McGarvey said his experience as a business owner in Waldoboro would help him as a member of the select board, because he is comfortable talking with people of all walks of life in various circumstances, and knows the importance of listening.
“I’ve really developed a good ability to listen to people’s wants and needs and manage all of the small details,” he said.
McGarvey enjoys hiking and camping with his family, and said the woods are his favorite place to be when he has a spare minute. He also likes to swim in the local secret swimming holes.
