WINDHAM

Newcomer, incumbent running for at-large seat

A Windham native who has never held office is challenging a sitting Windham town councilor seeking his third term.

On Tuesday, incumbent Thomas Gleason, 66, will face David Lydon, 35, in a race for an at-large seat on the council.

Gleason, a retired train director, has been on the council for five years and wants to continue the work that he’s started, he said. Mainly, that means implementing the 21st Century Downtown Plan calling for the town’s commercial center in North Windham to be made easier for cars, bicycles and pedestrians to use simultaneously, and making the area more attractive for further development.

Lydon, a prepress and information technology manager at Berkeley Mailings in Falmouth, grew up in Windham and lives there with his wife and three young children. Lydon said he is running because he’d like make his contribution to the town and that it’s time for a new perspective after many years with the same handful of people having served on the council.

Also on the ballot is incumbent Councilor David Nadeau, who is running uncontested to represent the town’s East District.

Three School Board members – Kate Brix, Dawn Dillon and Pete Heanssler – are also running uncontested for additional three-year terms.

RAYMOND

Town will decide whether to start RSU 14 withdrawal

Raymond voters will decide Tuesday whether to start the process of withdrawing from Regional School Unit 14, which the town formed with Windham in 2009.

The question being posed to voters is whether to file a petition for withdrawal with the RSU 14 school board and the state Department of Education and to allow the town to spend up to $25,000 to form an exploratory committee.

The townwide vote is the second step in a 22-step process outlined by the state for withdrawing from a district. If residents decide to pursue the withdrawal, a committee will be formed to come up with a plan for leaving the district. That plan will also require voter approval.

The impetus for withdrawal is a proposal to build a new school in Windham that would add hundreds of dollars to the tax bills of homeowners.

SCARBOROUGH

Seven candidates vying for three seats on council

Scarborough voters will choose from a crowded field of candidates for three Town Council seats and decide two referendum questions in Tuesday’s elections.

Incumbent councilors are James Benedict, a retiree and former business owner; Katherine St. Clair, a marketing director; and Richard Sullivan, a firefighter and owner of a landscaping business. The challengers are Shawn Babine, a former town councilor; Roger Beeley, a former Scarborough Economic Development Corp. board member; Peter Hayes, a health care consultant; and William Somers, who served on the town’s Canine Education Enforcement Committee.

One referendum would authorize town officials to borrow up to $585,000 to replace a 25-year-old fire truck at the Pleasant Hill Fire Station. The other would authorize a $440,000 bond issue to finance what would be the town’s first full property revaluation since 2005.

School Board members Christine Massengill and Kelly Murphy are unopposed in their re-election bids.

– From staff reports