Someone told me once that they “wouldn’t want a whole Select Board full of Alisons, but it’s good for every board to have at least one.”

 

The comment made me laugh because I’m pretty sure I know what they meant, and I think it’s probably true. I am one of those people. The kind that asks an annoying number of questions and wants to talk about things for longer than the average person. Although I have always been introverted and a little shy in group social situations, I’m naturally brave when it comes to talking about issues.

 

I like to know the reasons why things are done the way they are, and I can be exhausting to others when something doesn’t make sense. My drive to question things is especially strong when it feels that someone or something is being taken advantage of.

 

I’m running for another term on the Camden Select Board because I know that good things take time and I believe that I owe it to the people who have invested their time, trust, and energy into educating me on so many aspects of our town. Town government can be a big, frustrating puzzle with pieces that go missing or reappear when you least expect them to and so many have offered pieces of this puzzle over the years.

 

Your perspectives, stories, questions and comments have filled in so much that has allowed me to ask better questions and I believe I can continue to improve. It is often at the grocery store, the transfer station, a track meet, or down at the harbor that I get the most helpful input on any number of town issues and I enjoy being able to point people in the right direction or be in the right meeting to ask their question at a later time.

 

I know that most people in Camden simply cannot attend town government related meetings on a regular basis and I feel that elected officials have the responsibility and the privilege of being the voice for those who cannot be in the room to advocate for themselves.

 

Our town is set up so that proposals come forward and town staff and elected officials have to consider how something does or doesn’t fit into community goals. The public generally has an opportunity to speak in support or opposition. It is technically a fair system where anyone can come to a meeting and share their opinion, but in practice, the system heavily favors those who can be present for the meeting and who are comfortable and motivated to speak publicly. This system naturally excludes many in my age demographic with kids or anyone who works the evening shift in hospitals or restaurants.

 

This is one of the reasons why I have relentlessly advocated for hybrid meetings on zoom and live streaming on YouTube. I’ve personally operated the equipment for hundreds of hours of meetings when town staff were not available and it is heartening to see this practice becoming the standard.

 

For the past eight years, longer than I have been on the Select Board, my home has served as a drop off location for humanitarian relief shipments, first with NuDay Syria and now with Partners for World Health. I have had countless conversations with people stopping by to donate items and many others who have grown comfortable ringing the doorbell or leaving notes on the porch about various things. Although occasionally overwhelming, I love that the location of my home on Mechanic Street allows us to be a community hub where people feel comfortable pulling over or ringing the doorbell.

 

I grew up in Camden, splitting my time with my dad on Spruce Street, and my mom in North Union, just on the edge of the Burkettville town line. I attended the Children's House Montessori School, Appleton Village School and Camden Hills Regional High School before studying Sociology and Spanish in college. I chose Stetson University in Florida after receiving a full academic scholarship and later returned to the Midcoast with a new appreciation for both the people and the natural resources we are blessed with. I have children at both the elementary and middle schools and my husband (Vincent Jones) works in the marine service industry for a company called Safe Harbor.

 

I have had the great fortune of being born and raised in this amazing place. We rent rooms out in our home to long term tenants who share our kitchen, and this allows us a little financial freedom for volunteer efforts like this one. It has also given us considerable perspective on the very serious lack of affordable housing.

 

I love history and I serve on the board of the Camden-Rockport Historical Society (please reach out to me if you want to get involved). I believe strongly in researching before making decisions and I often cannot resist inserting the historical perspective into today’s discussions. This type of commentary can be way too much for Select Board meetings, so I started writing a weekly column as a way of reviving some of the good ideas and helpful perspectives from the past.

 

I am not always right, and I actually really enjoy it when new information is presented that changes my perspective. I try to be transparent and communicative as I share what I learn and my evolving perspectives and I’ve tried to force myself to write about issues that come before the town even when they are likely to generate criticism. My thought is that by writing about what I read and observe, even those who disagree will be afforded the benefit of knowing there is a discussion going on. Too much never makes it to the public consciousness.

 

I am most passionate personally about promoting the salvage, reuse, and recycling of items at the transfer station (I serve as one of Camden’s two Select Board representatives on the four-town board); protecting and restoring public access to the harbor; helping the town secure grant funding for projects related to natural resource protection, and promoting the interests of those in our community who can’t hire a lawyer to do so for themselves.

 

Please feel free to reach out to me by phone or email at 386-956-1530 or alisonmckellar@gmail.com. For issues related to my current role as a Select Board member you can use amckellar@camdenmaine.gov