By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
LITTLETON, Maine — The town has lost yet another longtime leader from its board of selectmen after Bob Bartlett decided to hang up his gavel.
Bartlett attended his final session with the board Monday evening at the town’s annual meeting at the Meduxnekeag Ramblers Snowmobile Club.
Bartlett is the third veteran selectman to retire from the board over the past few years and joins an elite group of residents who have served the community. Bartlett joins Rae Johnston, Jerry Miller, Ray Wotton, Ken Eleiott and Arnold Bartlett as town selectmen who retired from service at the 24-year mark. No selectman has served longer than 24 years.
“I just felt like the time was right,” Bartlett said. “I’m getting up there in age, and felt like it was time to let the younger generation take over.”
His son, David Bartlett, was elected Monday to succeed him on the board. He becomes the third generation of Bartletts to serve on the board.
“I took my dad’s place and now it’s time for Dave to take my place,” Bob said. “I’m very proud of him. He’ll do a fine job.”
David said he has always wanted to get into serving his town in local government, so when he heard is father was at the point where he was ready to step down, the time was right for him to step up.
“It is a pretty cool thing to be able to do,” David said. “I’m sure if grandpa were here, he would be pretty happy.”
David added his father gave him some sage advice.
“Dad told me just to keep level headed, stay calm and use common sense,” he said.
Bob Bartlett said he had the privilege of working with a number of exceptional people over the years.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jerry Miller and I enjoyed working with him,” he said. “My daughter Jennifer Gogan was also town manager here for a time. I’ve also enjoyed working with Courtney (Toby, Littleton’s current town manager).”
“They’re all retiring on me,” Toby said. “Bobbie has been well respected all of his life. I remember as a kid, I used to do a lot of work for him. He’s always been a mentor to the younger generation coming up.”
Bartlett said the one thing he was most proud of during his 24 years on the board was seeing the town finally make the switch to a pay-per-bag system.
“Starting two years ago, we’ve gone through quite a turmoil over this issue,” he said. “Last year, I regretted not doing more, or trying harder to show people how important this issue is to our town.”
He said he would miss attending the board of selectmen meetings and the camaraderie that selectmen share.
“Our meetings are not contentious,” he said. “We can come to agreement fairly easily and we all get along well. This is the greatest town there is. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
