CAMDEN, Maine — Camden Select Board Vice Chair Alison McKellar told the Midcoast Villager this week she is not planning to take out papers to run for reelection — though she left the door open to a potential run sometime in the future.
“I feel good about what’s been accomplished,” McKellar said.
McKellar was first elected to the board in June 2017 and was reelected in 2020 and 2023. She has become a visible, and sometimes controversial, presence on the board, often at the center of town issues, with vocal supporters and detractors alike.
She noted that she was first encouraged to get involved in town government through the Budget Committee by the late Leonard Lookner. She said she would be happy to talk with anyone interested in learning more about town government and getting involved in the same way.
She said she hopes a number of qualified and caring individuals will run to offer good options for the voters this year.
Two Camden Select Board seats currently held by McKellar and Chris Nolan are up for election for three-year terms. Four residents have so far taken out nomination papers to run for the Select Board — Bobbi Oxton Blake, Sara Skrivanich, Geoffrey Scott and incumbent Chris Nolan.
McKellar grew up in Camden and has devoted significant time to charitable work, including helping those displaced by war in Syria and working in Latin America. She currently volunteers through Partners for World Health, gathering medical supplies to be shipped to those in need.
Even before joining the Select Board, she was interested in community involvement. She previously served on Camden’s Budget Committee, personnel board, conservation commission and a town manager search committee. She is a member of the Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corp. board of directors, which oversees the transfer station that serves Camden, Rockport, Lincolnville and Hope.
She also served as a Camden Herald columnist, writing about the environment, local history and other issues.
During her time on the Select Board, she advocated for removing dams along the Megunticook River to restore fish passage upstream. Her campaign received pushback from downtown business owners who objected to removing Montgomery Dam and the picturesque waterfall it creates by the harbor. Inland shoreland property owners objected to removing dams that would change their waterfront property.
McKellar said she really enjoyed writing about the town as a columnist. She said she enjoys the interactions with people in the community that it brings, and she looks forward to being able to talk more freely without having to constantly qualify statements as not representing the full Select Board.
Protecting public access to trails and the waterfront, along with environmental sustainability, have been priorities throughout her work with the Select Board.
She said she expects she will still be involved in local issues and that people will continue to reach out to her with questions. She also sees value in taking a break from the board to allow others a chance to get involved.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
BDN writer Ethan Andrews contributed reporting.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.
