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Mark Eastman will spend another three years on Bucksport’s elected Town Council alongside newcomer Ralph Chapman, voters decided Tuesday.
Eastman, who’s held his seat since 2017, and former area legislator Chapman were in a three-way race with first-time candidate Jon Goss. Councilor Tracey Hair did not seek reelection.
Eastman won 1,407 votes, Chapman 1,220 and Goss 1,011, according to unofficial results.
Eastman owns a local real estate company and said his priorities for reelection included helping with redevelopment of the town’s former paper mill site and seeing through longrunning projects such as upgrades to Main Street with millions of dollars in state funding. He plans to make this his last term.
Chapman, a former industrial engineer, scientific researcher and educator, previously represented Brooksville in the Maine Legislature for eight years before moving to Bucksport seven years ago. This was his third bid for a council seat, one he said was motivated this time by making the town livable for young families.
He presented the idea of a moratorium on data centers to councilors, which was enacted last month with the former mill site in mind, and participated several years ago in a successful effort to dissuade the town from taking ownership of a troubled landfill left over from mill operations.
Goss, who works at Sprague Operating Resources in Searsport and coaches local sports, described himself as a fiscal conservative who supported a full public safety budget.
