NORRIDGEWOCK — Town voters will consider 16 candidates for 10 seats on the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board as well as settle other contested races when polls open Monday.

There are also contested races for seats on the Board of Tax Assessors and the School Administrative District 54 board.

Voting is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Mill Stream Elementary School. The business portion of the annual Town Meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the school.

All five selectmen are running for re-election, as are four other candidates. The incumbents are Charlotte Curtis, Matthew Everett, Chairman Ron Frederick, Vice Chairman Jim Hilton and Sara Wilder. The other candidates are Reginald Frederick, Laura Lorette, Bruce Obert and Roger Stinson.

They are vying for five seats for one-year terms.

The Planning Board candidates are Brian Scott Campbell, incumbent Charlotte Curtis, Kerri Everett, incumbent Amy Glidden, Christopher Kruse and Christopher Moody. They are competing for five seats for three-year terms.

The Board of Tax Assessors candidates are Jim Holt and incumbents Charlotte Curtis, Ron Frederick and Richard Holt. They are vying for three seats for one-year terms.

The School Administrative District 54 board candidates are incumbent Heidi Chartrand, incumbent Allan Laney and Roger Stinson. They are vying for two seats for three-year terms.

Board of Selectmen

Charlotte Curtis
Curtis, 67, is running for re-election after serving one year and said that if re-elected, her priority would be to save the town money in the coming year.

“The governor’s finances this year are going to drastically affect all towns. I want to work hard to keep costs and taxes down,” she said.

Curtis has been involved with the Town Office for the past 23 years, serving as town clerk and treasurer, registrar of voters and a municipal agent.

While serving as town treasurer in 2012, town officials questioned her about deliberately not recording a lien on some unpaid sewer accounts. She was also fired from her position as a clerk in the Town Office last year. She said the firing occurred because she had placed audio recording equipment at the Town Office front desk.

She is on the Board of Tax Assessors and is the Planning Board chairwoman.

“I’ve always tried to do what is best for the town. Whatever the job is, I want to do what is good for the town,” Curtis said.

Matthew Everett
Everett, 31, owns and manages 4 Seasons Home Repair & Camp Care. He has been on the board for one year and said that if re-elected, he wants improve properties that are not in compliance with town ordinances.

“I think this year we have already made progress by extending the number of hours our code enforcement officer works,” he said.

Everett is a member of the recreation board and last summer built a snack shack at the town fields, he said. He has two children. His wife, Kerri Everett, is running for town clerk and a seat on the Planning Board.

Reginald Frederick
Frederick, 39, is running for the board after losing in contested races the last two years. He works as a mechanic at Brownie’s Auto Service in Madison.

“I’ve seen people in this town struggle, and I think more can be done to bring income into the town and also to save money,” he said.

One way would be to better advertise the airport, which was recently underwent a $3.2 million renovation, Frederick said.

“I think it is an asset that could be publicized and used better,” he said. Frederick, who is a second cousin to the board’s current chairman, Ron Frederick, also said that if elected, he would like to keep the tax rate down.

Ron Frederick
Frederick, 45, has served as chairman of the Board of selectmen since 2007 and as a member since 2005. He is also on the Board of Tax Assessors. Frederick works as a machinist at General Electric in Bangor and said that since taking office, he is most proud of keeping the town’s property tax rate down.

“It’s not solely me, but I’m proud to be on a team that can do that. I truly want to make sure that taxes do not go up,” said Frederick.

He said he also has helped accomplish what people want at the annual Town Meeting, including overseeing annual investments in the town roads, and hopes to continue to communicate well with the public.

“If elected, I will support an open government that is as transparent, open and available to people as can be,” he said.

James Hilton
Hilton, 55, running for a third term as a selectman, said he wants to improve the climate for new businesses. He is also running for a seat on the Board of Tax Assessors.

“I want to keep the town growing a little every year. We need to get ready for the natural gas pipeline that will be coming. Hopefully, we can use that to attract and keep people and businesses here,” he said.

Hilton has managed his family’s dairy farm, Hilton Farm, since 1993. He also has been state director of the Maine Farm Bureau and county director of the Somerset County Farm Bureau.

Laura Lorette
Lorette, 43, was on the board for three years but did not run last year. A local business owner who runs What’s For Supper, Lorette said she would welcome change to the community.

“I have enjoyed being on the board and would like to see change,” said Lorette, who has four children.

Bruce Obert
Obert, 58, is a self-employed contractor at B.R. Obert & Sons and was on the board for one year in 2004. A retired firefighter who served 20 years with the Norridgewock Fire Department, Obert also was on the Planning Board and said he wants to make it easier for selectmen to work with the Planning Board.

His experience as a contractor has made him familiar with subdivisions and construction projects, he said. He also worked on building the bridge over the Kennebec River that was completed in July 2011 and renovations of the town library in 2004.

“I have that experience and I want to make it easier for people to build and work with the Planning Board,” he said.

Roger Stinson
Stinson, 41, said he has become active in the community since moving to Norridgewock in 2004.

“I feel like because I’m from somewhere else, it’s easier for me to be more open-minded. I also think it’s a good time for younger people to get involved in the town,” Stinson said. If elected, he wants to make meetings and decisions by the board more transparent to the public, he said.

Stinson said he also wants to create an atmosphere that is more business-friendly.

“We should treat all businesses the same, not pick and choose who we give tax breaks to,” he said.
Stinson, who works at Sappi Fine Paper in Skowhegan, has was secretary and treasurer of the local machinists union at the mill for the last eight years and said the experience would be useful for a selectman.

“I’m very involved with the union, and I know how to negotiate,” he said.
Stinson is the basketball director at the town recreation center and is also running for a seat on the school board.

Sara Wilder
Wilder, 70, is running for her third term on the board. A part-time librarian, she said that if re-elected, she would like to continue to keep taxes down.

“The town has been running smoothly. We have kept the (tax) rate down successfully over the last two years. I think we have a good town manager and board in place,” she said.

Wilder also is on the Village Improvement Society, the Somerset County Grange, the Norridgewock Historical Society and the board of the town library.

Planning Board

Brian Scott Campbell
Campbell, 52, is running for the first time. He said that if elected, he wants to update the ordinances.

A self-employed contractor at Campbell Land Surveying, he has been an enforcement officer in the town of Rome and on the Fairfield Planning Board. He said that as a contractor, he often has to negotiate with planning boards.

“I’d like to make it easier for whoever has to work with them,” he said.

Charlotte Curtis
Curtis, 67, is the acting Planning Board chairwoman and has been a member for nine years.
She said she has worked hard for the town and would continue to do so.

“Most people know me, and I hope I’ve lived up to their expectations,” she said. “I’ve always tried to do what is best for the town.”

Curtis is also running for re-election on the Board of Selectmen.

Kerri Everett
Everett, 32, is an appointed Planning Board member, having filled a vacancy three months ago. She said she is running for election because “I have goals for the community I grew up in and plan to retire in. I am young and very driven,” she said.

She said she wants to update ordinances so they are in compliance with state law and would rewrite those that are not current.

Everett is a studying early childhood education at Kennebec Valley Community College. She is also a volunteer soccer coach and the town’s director of baseball and softball. Her husband, Matt Everett, is seeking re-election to the Board of Selectmen. Kerri Everett also is running uncontested for town clerk.

Amy Glidden
Glidden, 40, is a medical assistant at Bhatta Medical Practice in Skowhegan. She is on the Planning Board and said she is interested in what goes on in the town.
“I have my own ideas and thoughts. I will object to something even if everyone else is going along with it,” she said.

Christopher Kruse
Kruse, 45, is the owner of a year-old business, the Bridgeside Market in Norridgewock, and is running for a municipal office for the first time . He said he also was on the local development board in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., having moved from there five years ago. He said he was born in Jackman and also lived in Skowhegan.

He said his experience in project development and building would be useful on the board.

“I went through the process with my store, and I see a lot of areas where we could use improvement,” he said.

Kruse said it took him more than a year of working with the Planning Board to get his store approved and that he would like to make the process faster and more streamlined.

Christopher Moody
Moody, 46, said his background in construction makes him a good candidate for a seat on the Planning Board.

“If elected, I want to make sure rules, regulations and guidelines are followed,” he said.
He is a member of the town recreation board and said he has been on the Planning Board.

Bruce Obert
Obert, 58, is running for the Planning Board after serving a term about a dozen years ago, he said.
A self-employed contractor at B.R. Obert & Sons, he said he has experience with subdivisions, construction and demolition.

“I want to make it easier for people to get through the Planning Board process and make it easier for selectmen to work with the board,” he said.

Board of Tax Assessors

Charlotte Curtis
Curtis, 67, is on the board as well as on the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board.
She said she has a lot of experience working for the town; and if elected, she wants to keep taxes down.

Ron Frederick
Frederick, 45, has been on the Board of Tax Assessors since 2004 and is the current chairman of the Board of Selectmen. As an assessor, Frederick said he would “try and take care of any tax bill issues” people have.

James Hilton
Hilton, 55, is running for his first seat on the board. He said he wants to ensure that taxes stay affordable and predictable.

“I’d like to make sure everyone is treated the same. If elected, I will look after the taxpayers, keep tax rates low and try to keep services at a rate the town can afford,” he said.

Richard Holt
Richard Holt, 71, has been on the board for six years and is running for a seventh term. A retired machinist from the Solon Manufacturing Co., Holt said he wants to serve again so that “we can keep taxes from getting high.”

School Administrative Board 54

Heidi Chartrand
Chartrand, 41, is seeking re-election after one term on the board. She is a cosmetologist at Serenity Shears and has two sons in the school district.

She said she thinks she is a good candidate because she routinely works with the public and can bring ideas and concerns back to the board.

“My goal is for children to get a good education that will be able to take them further,” she said.

Allan Laney
Laney, 71, has been on the board since 2004 and is running for his fourth term.

“The biggest problem I see facing the district right now is funding cuts from the state,” he said. If elected, he said, he wants to find ways to minimize the effect of those cuts while also increasing class time for students and improving test scores.

Retired from his job as supervisor at Sappi Fine Paper in Skowhegan, he has sent two children through the school district and is a 1960 graduate of Skowhegan Area High School.

Roger Stinson
Stinson, 41, is running for his first term on the school board. A machinist at Sappi Fine Paper, Stinson has two sons in the school district. He is the basketball director at the town recreation department and coaches baseball.

He said that being open-minded has helped his family succeed in the district.

“I want people to come to the district. I feel like a lot of people are skeptical of sending their kids to school here, but both of my kids have been in the system since kindergarten and I’m very happy with it. I want people to be proud to graduate from SAD 54,” he said.

In uncontested races, Kerri Everett is running for a one-year term as town clerk, Jessica Everett is running for a one-year term as town treasurer, and Brenda Obert is running for a five-year term as town library trustee.

Rachel Ohm —  612-2368
rohm@mainetoday.com

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