Six candidates are seeking two positions on the Bridgton Board of Selectmen. Residents voting Tuesday will also choose one of three candidates to fill the last year of Joan Gardner’s term, vacated when Gardner resigned in March.

Races for one Planning Board seat, one director of School Administrative District 61 and one trustee for the Bridgton Water District are uncontested.

Elections will be held Tuesday from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. at the Town Hall on North High Street. The annual town meeting will follow on Wednesday at 7 p.m., also at the Town Hall.

The six candidates for the two, three-year selectmen seats are Robert Bell, William Dyer, Paul Hoyt, Daniel Nowell, Brian Spear and Kenneth Towne.

Bell, 71, is running for his second three-year term on the board. He moved to Bridgton in 1972 and served as police chief for the Bridgton Police Department for 33 years before retiring in 2004. He is married and has two children.

“There are a lot of big issues, but we’ve got to keep the budget in control,” Bell said, stressing that he is extremely conservative when it comes to spending money, but also recognizes that the town’s roads and facilities need improvements. “We can only tax these people so much,” Bell said.

In his first term in office, Bell said, “I feel that I’ve done a lot to keep people a little more attentive to what they spend,” adding that he would continue to watch every bill coming in to reject unneeded expenditures.

“I am very concerned about the town garage building and getting it repaired,” Bell said, adding that all town facilities need to be looked at and repaired on a priority basis.

“We’ve got to look at what it’s going to cost to operate the town in the future,” Bell said, adding that he was especially concerned about the price of oil. “I think we’ve got to cut back on mileage and cut back on what we’re spending on fuel and oil.”

Bell said the town could start to do this by running fewer police cruisers or doubling up on cruisers, evaluating plowing and lowering temperatures in town buildings.

Bell said his knowledge of town government aids him as a selectman. Having been involved in the town for 36 years, Bell said, he knows many people and knows the way the town is going.

Hoyt, 52, has lived in Bridgton since 1997 and has vacationed in the town since 1956. He works as a clerk for the North Conway Post Office.

Though Hoyt has not previously held any town positions, he said, “I’ve always been civic minded.” He has coached the Bridgton Recreation Department’s basketball and softball teams and was the president of the Bridgton Recreation Advancement Group for eight years. Hoyt also served on the board of trustees for the Bridgton Alliance Church until last year.

If elected, Hoyt said he would try to increase citizen involvement and add to revenues without raising taxes. Increased revenues could come from new businesses and the town’s new single-sort recycling program, Hoyt said. He added that there are many volunteers in town with expertise in different areas, and the selectmen could benefit from reaching out to them.

Hoyt praised the current selectmen in their work to keep taxes low and build a strong connection between town government and SAD 61. He said he would continue to work in these directions. He also said he would like to entice businesses into the downtown area. One step in that direction could be to extend the economic development director from a part-time to a full-time position.

Hoyt said that keeping taxes low while maintaining town services is “something that has to be balanced.” The question that selectmen should ask, he said, is “Can we make a cut here and not sacrifice services to the town?”

Married with three children and four grandchildren, Hoyt said his positive attitude and open-mindedness would be an asset to him as a selectman.

Nowell, 47, has spent over half his life working for municipalities in one way or another, both on the laborer side and on the director side. He spent more than 16 years working for the Bridgton Public Works Department before moving on to the Bridgton Police Department for a short period and ending up as public works director for the town of Sebago, where he has worked since 2007.

He has been a member of the Bridgton Fire Department for almost 31 years, serving as district chief of Bridgton Central Station for 13 years. Nowell was a member of the Lions Club for more than five years.

“I want to be able to work for the residents of Bridgton in continuing a good service to the residents,” Nowell said, adding that he thinks the current selectmen have done an excellent job.

Nowell said he would hope to keep the taxes low so the town is affordable for most people. “In the hard times right now, we’ve got to be pretty conservative,” Nowell said, though he added that he wouldn’t want to sacrifice services.

Nowell said one of the main issues in the town is economic growth. “I think Bridgton could grow a little bit more,” Nowell said.

Spear, 49, has been a self-employed drywall sub-contractor and musician for 25 years. He has lived in Bridgton off and on for his entire life and served as an alternate on the Planning Board for one year in 1995.

“I want to do things for the community,” Spear said. “The town is all about new trucks, new equipment and putting in park after park,” yet it lacks a domestic violence shelter and substance abuse counseling program for teenagers. The money to take on new projects, Spear said, could come from community events and services.

One of his first goals would be to start Saturday street dances and baked bean suppers throughout the summer. The money raised, he said, could be used to build a hamburger stand and flush toilets at Hiram Beach. With the American Legion running the stand, half the profits could go to build a domestic violence shelter while the other half could go to the American Legion.

“I’m coming up with creative ways to raise money so I don’t have to raise taxes,” Spear said.

Spear, who is engaged and has a daughter, said, “The bottom line is I’m from here. I’m just an average working guy and I care about the people.”

Towne, 64, is running for his third term as selectman, though his last two terms were from 1996-2002. He worked for 35 years in the building materials sales industry until he retired in 2006. Towne currently works summers doing maintenance for Camp Skylemar in Naples. Towne was the treasurer of the snowmobile club for six years, served as assistant Scout master and has lived in Bridgton for most of his life.

Towne decided not to run for re-election in 2002 because he was busy and wanted to give someone else a turn. Now that he is retired and has more time, Towne decided to run to “see if I can make a difference. There are things I’d like to change.”

According to Towne, one of the biggest issues is local jobs.

“I think we need to look into getting some reasonable paying jobs in the area,” Towne said, adding that as gas prices increase it’s going to be tough for town residents to travel far for work. To do this, Towne says he would like to bring more new businesses into town and “make it as easy as we can in the process.”

If elected, after assessing what’s happening in each town department, he would start thinking about cutting costs and solving problems.

“There’s always places to cut,” Towne said. “We’ve got to keep the budget tight.”

Towne, who is married and has two children, seven stepchildren and many grandchildren, said he is a good candidate because he is intelligent, friendly and experienced.

The final candidate for the three-year selectman terms, Dyer, did not answer requests for an interview.

Those running unopposed are Gordon Davis, Planning Board; Stewart Sulloway, SAD 61 director; and Stevens Barker, Bridgton Water District director.