With two of three incumbents choosing not to run again, seven candidates are competing for three Gorham Town Council seats in the November municipal election.
Longtime Town Councilors James Hager and Benjamin Hartwell are not seeking reelection.
Hager, 66, served 12 years on the School Committee and has been on the council for six years. The current council vice chairperson, he is stepping down because of time commitments but didn’t rule out another run in the future.
Hartwell, 42, who began serving on the board in 2013, opted not to take out nomination papers for reelection also because of other time commitments, including the recent birth of a daughter, he said.
Town Councilor Janet Kuech is seeking a second term on the seven-member board. The other six council candidates are Michelle Inman Carlson, Claude Daigle III, Phillip Gagnon Jr., Christopher Kelley, Robert Lavoie and Seven Siegel, a Planning Board member.
Gagnon, a former Town Council chairperson, has an expiring term on the School Committee but is not making another school run.
For the School Committee, incumbent Stewart McCallister, a former board chairperson, is in a three-way race for two seats.
The challengers are former board member Jennifer Whitehead and Andrew LaPlaca, who earlier this year filed a complaint with the School Committee based on what he sees as “the lack of transparency” in the parent complaint process “and the desire to force parents seeking information to go through as many rungs as possible while diverting and stalling.” LaPlaca met behind closed doors last month with School Committee members, Superintendent Heather Perry and their lawyer.
This story was edited Sept. 19 to clarify the basis of Andrew LaPlaca’s complaint to the School Gorham Committee.
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