Penobscot voters elect Welts, reject GSA tuition request

March 4, 2026

By John Boit

Vivian Turner Welts has been elected to the Penobscot select board. File photo.

PENOBSCOT–Voters in Penobscot went to the polls on March 2, electing Vivian Turner Welts as their newest select board member and rejecting a request from George Stevens Academy (GSA) for additional tuition funds. A total of 188 ballots were cast.

By a vote of 135-44, Welts, a former nursing home worker, defeated Scott Ferden, a former fire chief. Welts will now assume the seat vacated by outgoing select board member Phil Rapp.

Meanwhile, GSA had asked Penobscot voters for $24,480 to cover additional tuition costs, or $1,530 for each of the 16 Penobscot students attending the high school. The funds were requested in addition to tuition the town already pays for each student to attend GSA, which is around $15,000 per year, with an additional 10 percent—$1,500 per student—coming from the state for building maintenance. Voters rejected the request 94-92.

On the school board, unopposed candidates Tanya Astbury and Charles Brenton won both their seats with 166 and 118 votes, respectively.

In other unopposed races, Rita Martynowski won as town clerk, Billy Hutchins won as road commissioner, and Krisy Emerton won a seat on the finance committee.

Six write-in candidates were also chosen for the commission that will be tasked with updating the town charter. Those members, if they accept the positions, are Bailey Bowden, Geoffrey Miller, Kurt Austin, Richard Hewitt, Krisy Emerton and Joseph McGraw.

Voters approved the lone third-party donation listed on the ballot: a $5,132 request from the Blue Hill Public Library. The donation, which had in the past elicited lengthy discussion on the floor of town meeting, passed 119 to 69.