HARPSWELL — Voters will go to the polls Saturday to elect either incumbent Selectwoman Elinor Multer or challenger C. Matthew Rich to a three-year term on the Harpswell Board of Selectmen.

In an interview with The Times Record, Multer said that her experience in town government is what sets her apart from her opponent.

“I’m not sure how much time he has spent seeing what (a selectman) does and what the job consists of,” Multer said.

Multer, 84, has served one term on the Board of Selectmen and previously served seven years on the board for School Administrative District 75.

Multer said town government is not perfect, but she disagrees with Rich that the town office and the role of members of the Board of Selectmen need to change.

“I think our town runs quite well,” Multer said.

Multer said she disagrees with her opponent that members of the Board of Selectmen need to be more directly involved in the day-to-day operation of municipal government. Instead, Multer believes the three- person Board of Selectmen should remain focused on the town government’s policy issues.

“We are not the operators of town government,” Multer said. “We are the overseers.”

The greatest challenge ahead, Multer said, will be deciding how the town uses the West Harpswell School building, which voters will also have a say about in a non-biding poll during Saturday’s annual town meeting.

Multer said that the decision of the voters will be the primary guide for moving ahead on the West Harpswell School project.

Multer said she hopes the discussion of how to use the school does not spark what she characterized as an “ ongoing rivalry” pitting Harpswell Neck versus islands residents that she said is “not constructive or helpful” to town governance.

“I’ll be doing anything I can to contribute to a lessening of that sense of ‘ my side and your side,’” Multer said. “I don’t think it helps the town any.”

Multer said she thinks Harpswell’s greatest advantage is hundreds of miles of coastline and its “ natural beauty and natural setting.”

At the same time, Multer said, that beauty has kept property values at a level she said concerns her.

“For young families, it is not easy to own a home in Harpswell and that is an ongoing concern for most people in town,” Multer said. “But the answers to it are not easy to come by.”

For some years after moving to Harpswell, Multer said, she had taken on partial management of a home construction business and that building affordable housing, especially in Harpswell, can be a challenge.

“All property tends to reflect the cost of being near the water,” Multer said, “and it’s high.”

Multer said she did not have a specific campaign platform when she first ran for the Board of Selectmen against David I. Chipman in 2009, but thought the job would be “ interesting and challenging and it’s turned out to be all of that,” Multer said.

“ The job is challenging every day and you work with great people,” Multer said. “I enjoyed it and so I decided to throw my hat into the ring again.”

The polls will be open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Harpswell Community School. The annual town Meeting will begin there at 10 a.m.

dfishell@timesrecord.com