Ticket-topper Dixon excited to get to work
Select Board member to begin fifth term
chelmsford » A day after securing his fifth term on the Select Board, George Dixon told The Sun that he’s excited to start working with the new incoming Selectman Mark Carota, who secured the second of the two open seats in Tuesday’s annual town election.
“He’s young, he’s energetic, he seems to like the town, he has a pretty good idea of a lot of things that are going on in town and he’s another voice that cares,” the 74-year-old said. “I think he’s a very good addition to the board.”
Dixon topped the ticket in a four-way race for two seats on the board with 1,582 votes, and Carota, who is already vice chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, won the second open seat with 1,507 votes. Latosha Dixon, the vice chair of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee finished third with 1,462 votes and political newcomer April Danielson finished fourth with 1,019 votes.
“I’m excited, but now it’s over with and we start again, it’s like a doubleheader, you win the first game but now you’ve got to get ready for the second game,” said Dixon, who has already served for 12 years on the Select Board.
He credited this most recent win to having a lot of good, hardworking friends around town, as well as catching a few lucky breaks.
“I had a good group of people who worked very hard for me and put in a lot of their time,” Dixon said. “It was a very close race and the whole thing could have changed around, so I’m very fortunate.”
Carota secured the open seat of former Selectwoman Emily Antul, who resigned in January after she called a member of the Finance Committee a crude, highly offensive derogatory slur during a heated exchange.
Dixon has lived in Chelmsford his entire life and has held various positions throughout his time in town. Dixon has served as chair of the Affordable Housing Committee; vice chair of the Housing Advisory Board; chair of the Turf Field Committee, which oversaw construction of two turf fields to benefit youth sporting programs; board member of the Senior
Center; Chelmsford’s representative on the Lowell Regional Transit Authority; and liaison to both the North and East Chelmsford Water Districts. He has also been a town meeting representative for almost 20 years and helped to establish the town’s Economic Development Committee.
As a liaison on the Permanent Building Committee, he said he worked on a town firehouse, the new Department of Public Works building and the renovation of the town’s two town halls, which he said was a $25 million project.
Dixon said that his top priorities heading into his new term are to continue to focus