Kennebunk municipal elections are coming up on June 8 and there’s a full slate of candidates seeking office. Tammy Wells file photo
KENNEBUNK – A whopping 10 candidates are in the running for four seats on the select board while four people are vying for two seats on the Regional School Unit 21 Board of Directors.
Municipal elections are scheduled for June 8. Nominations to be on the ballot for those races, plus the Kennebunk Light and Power District board and the Kennebunk Sewer District board closed on April 9.
There are eight candidates for three, three-year seats on the select board, including incumbents Wayne Berry and Shiloh Schulte, budget board member John Costin, Anthony Michaud, Kortney Nedeau, Gwen Page, Energy Efficiency Committee member Lisa Joy Pratt and Kyle Roberts.
Nedeau was among several who had sought appointment in January to a short- term vacancy on the RSU 21 Board of Directors that was filled by another candidate, and had taken out nomination papers for both RSU 21 and select board – ultimately choosing to run for the latter.
Incumbent Ed Karytko is not seeking re-election.
Sally Carpenter and Thomas Wellman are in the running for the two remaining years of a term that became vacant at the resignation of select board member Peter Brewitt in March. Wellman has previously served on the board.
Looking to join the RSU 21 board are Joshua Barstow, Amanda Downing, Alison Riggieri and Peter Sentner. Gayle Spofford, who was appointed to the board in January to fill a vacancy until June that emerged following the resignation of former director Kendra Connor, is not seeking election. Director Mike Mosher is not seeking re-election.
There was one last-minute bid for a spot on the RSU 21 ballot that proved successful, said Town Clerk Merton Brown. On Friday, April 9, with nominations due by 4:30 p.m., Brown said the phone rang shortly after 3 p.m., with a voice inquiring if they could come in and pick up nomination papers.
“I said, ‘Sure, but you only have little over an hour,'” Brown said he told the caller. “The person said “no problem.”
Brown said the papers were picked up and a little while later, he heard talking outside. He looked, and people were gathered around an antique vehicle, signing nomination papers – 25 signatures of Kennebunk residents registered to vote are required to be on the ballot.
“At 4 p.m., (Joshua Barstow) came in with 30 signatures,” said Brown. A municipal clerk for decades, Brown said he’d seen candidates pull papers on the morning of the day they were due – but never with an hour to spare.
Chauncy Copeland and Curtis Mildner are vying for a five-year term as a trustee of Kennebunk Light and Power, a seat currently held by Dan Bartalucci.
Candidates for two terms as Kennebunk Sewer District trustees could be considered shoe-ins in their race. Incumbents Mark Allenwood and James Oppert are unopposed in their bids for re-election.
Brown said absentee ballots will be available May 7, and the secure ballot drop box will be placed outside town hall, as it was for the Nov. 3 election. Brown said it is likely there will be extended hours for absentee voting. Absentee voting will also be available at town hall 8 a.m. to noon, and 1:15 to 4:30 p.m. The building is closed for lunch and cleaning from noon to 1:15 p.m.
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