WILLOW CREEK — Eleanor Vance was elected as Second Selectwoman on Tuesday, running on a platform of economic revitalization that promises to aggressively pursue new businesses for Main Street’s vacant storefronts.
Vance, 44, brings a background in non-profit management, having served as executive director of the Aroostook County Community Development Corporation for the past eight years. She is the first woman elected to the Board of Selectmen since the 1980s.
“Main Street has seven empty storefronts,” Vance said in her victory speech. “That is seven missed opportunities to create jobs, generate tax revenue, and give people a reason to come to Willow Creek. I plan to fill every one of them.”
Vance’s platform includes the creation of a tax incentive program for new businesses, the expansion of the Mattawamkeag River Trail’s marketing budget, and a renewed push for state and federal grants for downtown infrastructure improvements.
“I have been writing grant applications for the county for eight years,” Vance said. “I know where the money is. I know how to get it. And I know that Willow Creek has been leaving money on the table because we have not had someone whose full-time job is to go after it.”
Arthur Pendelton, who was re-elected as First Selectman, said he looks forward to working with Vance. “Eleanor brings energy and expertise that this board has needed,” he said. “We have been talking about Main Street revitalization for a decade. It is time to stop talking and start doing.”
Clara Winslow’s editorial endorsed Vance, calling her “the shot of adrenaline that the town’s revitalization efforts have been waiting for.”