WATERVILLE — Two incumbents and one newcomer are vying for two three-year terms on the Kennebec Water District Board of Trustees in the Nov. 5 election.

The candidates are incumbent Jeff A. Earickson, J. Michael Talbot and newcomer Richard J. Staples.

Voting in the partisan election will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the American Legion Hall on College Avenue.

Incumbent trustee Jeff A. Earickson, a Democrat who has served on the board since 2008, said he is running for re-election because he wants to ensure that consumers get clean drinking water at the lowest possible price.

“You must realize that with providing clean drinking water there is a lot of infrastructure there and all of that costs money, but still, I’d like to have a minimum cost to the community,” Earickson said Thursday.

Earickson, 58, of North Riverside Drive, is server administrator for the information technology department at Colby College. He holds a doctorate in civil engineering from University of Alabama, a master’s degree in ocean engineering from Cornell University and a bachelor of science in civil engineering, also from Cornell.

He has worked in computers since the mid-1980s and before that, worked for the Army Corps of Engineers doing hydraulics and hydrology, he said.

Republican Richard J. Staples, 64, of Johnson Heights, is a clinical psychologist who has been a member of the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program Board of Directors for more than 20 years. He has been board treasurer more than 10 years and is former board president. He also is treasurer of the Board of Directors of Crisis & Counseling Centers and has served on the board about 10 years.

Staples says he is interested in the technical, practical side of how organizations function and carry out their missions, and he looks forward to serving on the Kennebec Water District board.

“I’ve followed it over the years and I have a sense that it’s doing well at doing the task as affordably as possible,” he said. “Those are the things that I’d like to contribute to. We want the water district to function well and do it at an optimum cost level for the rate payers.”

Staples holds both a doctorate and master’s degree in psychology from University of Maryland, an MBA from University of Maine, a bachelor’s degree in psychology, also from University of Maine, and graduated from Belfast Area High School.

J. Michael Talbot, 67, of Lantern Lane, has been a water district trustee for 18 years, the last several as board treasurer.

An attorney, Talbot is a Democrat and former chairman of both the City Council and Board of Education.

“I think I’m still contributing to the (Kennebec Water  District) board,” Talbot said Thursday. “It’s certainly an interesting board and a good board to be on. I still enjoy doing my duties there as a trustee and representing the city of Waterville.”

Talbot attended Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H., which is now University of New Hampshire School of Law. He also is a graduate of both Bowdoin College and Waterville High School.
The Kennebec Water District is a quasi-municipal corporation that supplies water from China Lake to Waterville, Winslow,  Fairfield, Benton and Vassalboro. It also supplies AquaMaine in Oakland.

Founded in 1899, the district filters and treats the lake water in its filtration center in Vassalboro.
The district is directed by 10 trustees, all of whom are elected.

Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com