BATH — There won’t be any contested elections for the City Council in November, when two incumbents and one former state legislator will be the only candidates on the ballot.
Jennifer DeChant
With Bath City Councilor David Comeau not seeking re-election to the Ward 5 seat he has occupied since 2016, former state Rep. Jennifer DeChant is running this fall to replace him.
At-large Councilor Mari Eosco, the panel’s chairwoman, and Ward 7 Councilor Aaron Park, were the other two candidates to return nomination papers by the Aug. 20 deadline.
First elected to represent Bath in House District 52 in 2012, DeChant resigned Feb. 1 after taking a job in the private sector. Her job with Charter Communications, a telecommunications and media company that owns Spectrum, made it impossible to fulfill her responsibilities in Augusta due to frequent travel out of state, she said at the time.
But DeChant expressed an enthusiastic desire last week to serve on the council, which meets less frequently. She said she has “always wanted to run (for the) City Council and address issues that matter to us. (My) commitment to public service is at my core.”
In Topsham, nomination papers for two seats on the Board of Selectmen, both three-year terms, and the School Administrative District 75 Board of Directors became available July 29. Papers must be returned to the office of Town Clerk Linda Dumont by 3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6.
As of Monday, only Matthew Nixon – who served on the Comprehensive Plan Committee and sits on the Historic District Committee – had submitted papers for the Board of Selectmen, although incumbent Selectmen Marie Brillant and Bill Thompson, whose terms are expiring, said they plan to run again.
Only Don Koslosky had filed papers for the School Board, where three Topsham seats are available. Holly Kopp, chairwoman from 2017-2018, said last month she will not seek re-election to another three-year term. Also available is a one-year term replacing Matthew Drewette-Card, who resigned June 30 after two years in office. Patrick Coen, appointed in June by the Board of Selectmen to replace Drewette-Card, said he plans to run again.
The third vacancy is the unexpired term of Jane Scease, who is resigning Sept. 30 due to a move out of the school district. Her term expires next year. Koslosky, appointed by the Board of Selectmen to fill Scease’s term through this November, filed papers for one of the two open one-year terms.
“I will be moving to Brunswick, because I want to live in town, closer to activities that I enjoy,”Scease said Monday. “I will continue to work with Housing Resources For Youth on developing housing for high school students who are on their own, and with Greater Brunswick Housing Corporation.”
Nomination papers for two seats on the Regional School Unit 1 Board of Directors became available July 29, and must be returned to the superintendent’s office by Thursday, Sept. 5. Both Anita Brown, the panel’s Arrowsic representative, and Alan Walton of Bath, who fills an unrestricted residence seat, said they are running again.
Walton had returned papers as of Monday, as had Lorna Ryan of Woolwich, who has served on RSU 1’s Finance Committee.
Voters in all four RSU 1 communities – Bath, Arrowic, Phippsburg, and Woolwich – elect all board members, regardless of where they live.
Election Day is Nov. 5.
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