ELLSWORTH, Maine — Two former City Hall administrators and a local brewery owner have been elected to the Ellsworth City Council, beating an incumbent and three other candidates.
Michelle Beal, Ellsworth’s former city manager, received the highest tally of all seven candidates, getting 2,475 votes. Tammy Mote, the city’s former finance director and deputy city manager, placed second with 1,901 votes.
Rounding out the winning bids was Jon Stein, cofounder and owner of Fogtown Brewing in Ellsworth. Stein received 1,282 votes, edging fourth-place finisher John Linnehan by 56 votes.
In an email sent after midnight to other candidates and city officials, Linnehan appeared to accept the outcome of the council race.
“Best wishes, and most importantly, prayers for all as you serve our city, state and nation in the upcoming year,” Linnehan wrote.
Trailing behind Linnehan were Kristen Schlaefer with 1,055 votes, Robert Miller with 1,029 votes and Gordon Workman, who received 989 votes. Miller, an incumbent, was first elected to the council in 2019.
Beal, who also is a former finance director for the city, and Mote are seen as candidates who might help bring more municipal administration and financial expertise to the council. Both now work for Bangor law firm Rudman Winchell — Beal as the firm’s administrator and chief operating officer, and Mote as the firm’s finance manager.
The city currently is without a full-time finance director. Josh McIntyre resigned from the position at the end of July.
The election of Stein, who is 34, makes the council younger and adds another Democrat to the group, joining Casey Hanson and Dale Hamilton. The four other councilors — Beal, Mote, Gene Lyons, and Steve O’Halloran — all are Republicans.
The city charter, however, expressly designates the city’s council seats as nonpartisan positions, which means party affiliation plays no role in who runs for council or how the council conducts business.
The new councilors are expected to begin serving their terms on Monday, Nov. 14.
Marc Blanchette and Michelle Kaplan were councilors whose terms expired this year and who chose not seek re-election.
At the same time he was running for City Council, Linnehan was making another attempt to be elected to the Legislature, running as the Republican candidate for Maine House District 13. He also lost that race on Tuesday, with Democrat Mark Worth getting 2,355 votes to Linnehan’s 1,719.
In the race for the Maine Senate seat that includes Ellsworth, Democrat Nicole Grohoski won her rematch with Republican Brian Langley, having beaten him in June in a special election for the same seat.
Grohoski received 12,767 votes on Tuesday while Langley received 8,902.