Camden elects Bobbi Oxton Blake, Chris Nolan to Select Board
With unofficial numbers, Camden voters approved their $13,371,065 2026-2027 budget, elected Bobbi Oxton Blake and Christopher Nolan for three-year terms on the Select Board, decided to keep their police department intact with a nonbinding referendum, approved a 180-day moratorium on bulkhead and seawall construction, as well as the Camden-Rockport K-8 school budget and the Five Town CSD (Camden Hills Regional High School) budget.
In the primaries (official numbers pending), Democrat voters also endorsed Graham Platner as their favored U.S. Senate candidate with rank choice voting, favored Hannah Pingree for Governor candidate, Josh Gerritsen for District 41 candidate to the Maine Legislature, and Natasha Irving for Sixth District Attorney.
Republican voters favored Jonathan Bush for Governor candidate, and Russell for Congressional District 1 candidate.
Select Board votes were:
Bobbi Oxton Blake, 1,210
Christopher Nolan, 1,259
Geoff Scott, 901
Sara Skrivanich, 1,066
Voters also tackled a nonbinding referendum concerning its police department.
Question 1: YES: 2,143 NO: 273
Whether the town should maintain a full-service Police Department consistent with its traditional level of service.
Question 2: YES: 867 NO: 1,493
Whether the Select Board and Town Manager should evaluate the financial costs and benefits of contracting with an outside agency, such as the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, to provide all or part of Camden’s patrol services.
Question 3: YES: 1,411 (fulltime) NO: 96
YES: 625 (parttime) NO: 18
Whether the Town should maintain its own police chief as a town employee, and if so, whether that position should be full-time or part-time. For context, Camden and Rockport shared a single police chief for the past 10 years under an interlocal agreement, with each town paying a proportional share of the cost.
Warrant articles were all approved with official numbers still pending:
Article 3: YES: 0 NO: 0
To remove the minimum number of parking spaces required for one-family, two-family and multi-family dwellings, accessory apartments and affordable housing projects.
Article 4: YES: 0 NO: 0
To update the term "Coastal Wetland" to be compliant with the new state-mandated definition of "coastal wetland" under the Shoreland Zoning Act.
Article 5: YES: 0 NO: 0
To add the definition of "adaptive reuse" to the zoning code
Article 6: YES: 0 NO: 0
To provide for the adaptive reuse of street level residential uses in limited instances when redeveloping certain historic structures withing the B-1 district.
Article 7: YES: 0 NO: 0
To amend code that allows for requiring applicants for certain projects in the shoreland zone to submit additional information that would be stamped by licensed design professionals.
Article 8: YES: 0 NO: 0
To amend code that requires applicants for certain projects to submit professionally stamped as-built site plans and stamped certificate of compliance prior to issuance issued by code enforcement officer.
Article 9: YES: 0 NO: 0
To amend code to enable the Planning Board to require, at applicants' expense, a third-party review of the site plan review process at the cost of the applicant.
Article 10: YES: 0 NO: 0
To adopt a 180-day moratorium ordinance to prohibit the hardening and/or armoring of coastal shorelines. The purpose is to allow the town time to update permitting and review process for such projects.
Article 11: YES: 0 NO: 0
To accept a deed from Alkco Acceptance Corporation and others for a portion of land on Linden Lane with a detention pond. The article asks voters to complete unfinished business from the June 2003 Annual Town Meeting when the voters approved accept a deed for the Greefield Subdivision lot to establish a bike and pedestrian pathway. The deed was never executed.
Article 12: YES: 0 NO: 0
To accept a deed from the Pupine Terrace Homeowners Association for Lot 51, a 3.16 acre parcel on which the town intends to maintain for anti-erosion measures on Rawson Brook, and to pursue state and federal stormwater and watershed restoration grants.
Article 13: YES: 0 NO: 0
To allow Sidecountry Sports to lease premises at the Camden Snow Bowl and operate a concession.
Article 14: YES: 0 NO: 0
To allow Snow Dogs to lease premises at the Camden Snow Bowl and operate a concession.
Article 15: YES: 0 NO: 0
To allow Sidecountry Sports to lease premises at the Camden Snow Bowl and operate a concession.
Articles 16-23, Municipal Business and the budget.
Article 23: YES: 0 NO: 0
To purchase a fire truck with a $1.14 million appropriation.
School budgets
School Administrative District 28 (Camden-Rockport K-8) budget of $22,047,687 up $631,873, or 2.94 percent, from the current $21.5 million budget. YES: NO: 0
Five Town CSD (Camden Hills Regional High School) $19,200,174 million budget, up 3.76 percent from the current 2025-2026 budget. YES: 0 NO: 0
