NORTH YARMOUTH — Residents Paul Hodgetts and Steve Berry both seek to complete the one year remaining in Bill Whitten’s term on the Select Board.

The vacancy was created after Whittten, the board chairman, resigned March 30.

Also on the ballot, and profiled in the June 4 edition of The Forecaster, are Brian Sites, Austin Harrell and Al Ahlers, who are vying to fill two other three-year Select Board seats in July 14’s election.

The Select Board candidates discussed the town and school budgets and something they’d like to improve on in town, as well as whether School Administrative District 51 needs a new primary school – and if it should be in North Yarmouth. The district has eyed land for a school next to the new Wescustogo Hall & Community Center, part of which used to be the North Yarmouth Memorial School. As student enrollment ebbed at the time, SAD 51 closed that school in 2014, three years after shuttering Drowne Road School.

A jump in enrollment in recent years – the Mabel I. Wilson elementary school has exceeded its 600-student capacity by about 100 – and new projections that show continued growth have caused the district to consider new school construction. The facility could be 100,000 square feet and cost $36.4 million, according to preliminary estimates.

Steve Berry

Berry, who serves on SAD 51’s School Building Committee and works at the Wilson school, said he “absolutely” thinks a new school is needed, pointing out that “we are overwhelmed by students” there. Another building is certainly needed, but it’s unclear whether it’s needed now or in a couple of years, particularly given discussions on whether students will continue working from home “either by choice or by necessity in the next school year,” he said.

Berry noted that given the economic strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic, his committee “really has pumped the brakes” on the process.

“We have to reevaluate what we can do and what’s feasible right now,” he said.

A new school should be sited in North Yarmouth, he said, adding that “our town misses something” by not having a school there.

“A school can be a real rallying point for the community,” he said.

“In the near future,” he also pointed out, “thoughtfully placing a school within the Village Center of North Yarmouth is the best way to improve our town.”

Berry wants the town to “keep affordable housing in mind when the need or urge for further building returns,” adding, “I think we missed an opportunity by committing so much of the Village Center to market rate housing.”

North Yarmouth’s combined school, county and town budget could raise taxes 12 cents per $1,000 of property valuation, adding $36 to the tax bill of a $300,000 home. Residents will vote on the town and school budgets July 14, and Berry said he supports both.

“I do believe that we have the resources within our town to take care of each other and to build a strong future for each other,” he said, noting the importance of addressing a town’s needs while ensuring its seniors aren’t taxed out of their homes.

Paul Hodgetts

Hodgetts said he’d rather have a new school located in Cumberland on the existing school campus. It would otherwise “add to a lot of traffic problems in North Yarmouth.”

Enrollment numbers do support a new school, he said, and “you can’t go against (them) unless we can come up with another way or a better idea.” Still, he added, “the way things are working today with the pandemic, and you don’t even have school going on, what’s the future going to be?”

Hodgetts also questioned whether a new facility has to carry a $36 million price tag.

He said he would like to have seen more municipal budget cuts, although he acknowledged “I know they have to run the town.” While a 12-cent increase “seems minimal … per thousand,” he has mixed feelings on whether he will support the town and school budgets.

Hodgetts said he would “like the town to be affordable.” While “we’ve been doing pretty good (on taxes), next year I think we’re going to see a lot bigger jump and I think people will really be shocked.”

“(I) want to make sure our property tax money is spent efficiently and to listen to all North Yarmouth residents,” Hodgetts said.

He isn’t a fan of how close to Route 9 (Memorial Highway) the new housing developments in the Village Center have encroached. Although the town last year trialed traffic calming measures in that part of town, Hodgetts would prefer to see more speed control as traffic heads out of that area, past Fat Andy’s and the former Wescustogo Hall site.

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