FREEPORT – Four candidates are running for two seats on the Regional School Unit 5 Board of Directors, while two of the three Town Council members whose terms are up are running unopposed.
Nomination papers were due at 6 p.m. last Thursday at the office of Town Clerk Tracey Stevens.
Nelson Larkins, RSU 5 board chairman, and Beth Parker are the incumbents. Charly Haversat Matheson, a consultant in Alternative Investments, and Lindsay Sterling, a food writer, are the challengers in the race. The top two vote getters will win the seats.
Both Larkins and Parker oppose Freeport withdrawing from RSU 5, an issue that also will be on the Nov. 4 ballot. Larkins and Parker have been school board members since 2009, when RSU 5 was formed. Parker served on the Freeport School Committee from 2005-2009.
Haverset Matheson was a member of the former group Moving Freeport Forward, which was the driving force behind the withdrawal movement. Freeport residents voted last December to explore withdrawal, after Moving Freeport Forward circulated a petition that put the issue on a ballot.
Sterling led the Friends of Freeport High School, a nonprofit that spearheaded the drive last year to get a $14.6 million bond to renovate the high school passed. RSU 5 residents approved the bond last November, but the money is not available pending the results of the withdrawal vote.
Last month, the Freeport Withdrawal Committee and the RSU 5 Working Group negotiated a settlement, which was ratified by Education Commissioner Jim Rier.
On the Town Council, Sarah Tracy is unopposed in District 2, and Vice Chairwoman Kristina Egan is without opposition in District 3. At-large Councilor Rich DeGrandpre is opposed by William Rixon, a retired science teacher at Greely High School. DeGrandpre has the longest tenure on the council, having served since 2002.
Incumbent Michael Ashby and challengers Gerald Kennedy and Sally Leland are running for two seats on the Sewer District Trustees.
Thomas Hudak is unopposed on the Nov. 4 ballot for Water District Trustees.
All positions on the ballot are for three years.
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