NORRIDGEWOCK — Residents on Monday will vote on whether to change the positions of town clerk collector and treasurer from elected to appointed in a referedum before considering a $2.2 million municipal budget at the annual Town Meeting.

Town residents will also choose five selectmen from 11 candidates.

The election and secret-ballot referendum will be held from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Mill Stream Elementary School, with Town Meeting to follow at 7:30 p.m.

The $2,256,222 budget includes $815,737 to be raised through taxes as well as from surplus and undesignated funds. In 2015 residents approved a $1,959,996 municipal budget, including $828,396 from taxation.

The only major added expense this year is a request that residents approve spending $300,000 from undesignated funds to buy two new plow trucks. The purchase would not affect taxes, Town Manager Richard LaBelle said.

Residents also will consider changing the positions of town clerk and treasurer from elective to appointed, after a petition was brought to town officials asking for the change. At a public hearing last month no one spoke against the proposed change.

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Office clerk Sharon Dodge, who was appointed interim town clerk after the resignation of Kerri Everett in December, said she and office clerk Kelly Green favor the change because it would provide more flexibility for residents coming to the Town Office to do business.

In the election, 11 candidates are running for five seats on the Board of Selectmen. The terms are for one year. Other contested races include three seats on the Board of Tax Assessors and a seat on the Planning Board.

Charlotte Curtis, Ron Frederick, James Hilton and Sara Wilder are each seeking a one-year term on the assessors board. Curtis and Bruce Obert are the candidates for the Planning Board seat. The term is for two years.

In uncontested races, Curtis is running for a three-year term on the Budget Committee; Jessica Everett is running for a one-year term as town treasurer; Paula Beach and Heidi Chartrand are running for three-year terms on the board of directors of School Administrative District 54; Joshua Chartrand, Charlotte Curtis and Bruce Obert are running for seats on the Sewer Commission; and Brian S. Campbell is running for a one-year term on the Planning Board.

SELECTMAN CANDIDATES

Brian Aubry could not be reached for comment.

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Josh Chartrand, 28, is a mechanic at the Skowhegan water pollution control facility and serves on the Sewer Commission. “I’d like to do what I can to help the town and use what knowledge I have from working in Skowhegan and seeing how things work there,” Chartrand said. “I don’t have any real biased reason to do it other than what I can do for the town. It will be a good learning experience for me at the same time.”

He also has a grade 2 biological wastewater license.

“I want to work towards bettering things,” Chartrand said. “I think the town is headed in a good direction and I’d like to help it continue heading in that direction.”

Charlotte Curtis, 70, is on the board now and has been involved with the Town Office for the past 26 years, having served as town clerk and treasurer, registrar of voters and municipal agent. She also holds seats on the Planning Board, the Sewer Ccommission, the assessors and the Budget Committee. She did not respond to calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Matthew Everett, 34, is the vice chairman of the Board of Selectmen and served for one year before that. He also co-owns and manages 4 Seasons Home Repair & Camp Care LLP. If he is re-elected, Everett said, two of his main priorities would be coming up with a long-term plan for the Norridgewock sewer plant and working on road improvements.

“I think the biggest goals are keeping everything on track, straightening out the current issues that we have and coming up with a long-term plan and goals for where we want to be as a town,” Everett said.

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Ron Frederick, 48, has been chairman of the Board of Selectmen since 2007 and a board member since 2005. He is also on the Board of Tax Assessors. Frederick, a machinist at General Electric in Bangor, said that if re-elected, he would like to focus on continuing to keep taxes from increasing.

“The town’s budget has not gone up the last seven years,” Frederick said. “I realize it’s a struggle for everybody to pay their taxes, and I think the board that we have has done a lot. We put in a new highway garage and new fire station, and that’s all without increasing taxes.”

James Hilton, 58, is a farmer who previously served three terms on the Board of Selectmen. If elected, he said, his main priority would be to keep taxes down. “I think that’s a pretty big challenge right there,” Hilton said. ” A lot of stuff the board does is pretty private, so it would be good to be on the inside and have an understanding of what changes are happening.”

Laura Lorette, 45, served three years on the Board of Selectmen and said she was prompted to run again because she enjoyed serving. “I had too many personal obligations to give it my attention (in the past), but at this point I’m ready to go back to serving,” she said.

The owner of What’s for Supper restaurant, Lorette said that if elected, she would like to work on improving the downtown and focus on wastewater management issues.

“Norridgewock is a place where I’ve lived and raised my family. Community service has always been a part of who I am. Serving on the board is something I’m willing to do again in the future,” she said.

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James Lyman, 54, is seeking re-election. Lyman has worked in law enforcement for more than 30 years and is employed by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy as a training coordinator. He’s been chairman of the Budget Committee and is a current member of the Somerset County Budget Committee.

“I consider myself a fiscal conservative and am very pleased with the work the boad has accomplished over the past two years,” he said. If elected he hopes to continue to work together as a board to “make decisions that are in the best interest of residents,” as well as work closerly with the Sewer Commission on long term solutions for repain and maintenance of the wastewater treatment plant, encourage community development projects and look for potentional growth oppourtunities at the Central Maine Regional Airport.

“Our property taxes have seen a minimal or no increase over the past few years,” he said. “We need to continue looking for ways to keep our property taxes stable as communities around us have seen major tax payers decrease their valuation.”

d to He did not respond to calls for comment on Wednesday.

Bruce Obert, 61, is a self-employed contractor at B.R. Obert & Sons and was on the board for one year in 2004. He is on the Planning Board and the Sewer Commission. He declined to comment on his candidacy for selectman.

Nicholas Quimby, 29, is a first-time board candidate who said he was prompted to run to bring more diversity to the board. “Anybody else that’s running has either been on the board or is on the board. The way I see it, sometimes you need a new set of eyes,” he said.

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An assistant superintendent of the Norridgewock Water District, Quimby said that if elected, he would like to focus on ensuring the tax rate is fair and wastewater management. “I understand the way (the wastewater system) works,” he said. “At the same time, nobody knows everything and you can’t go into something like that knowing everything you want to get done. You just have to immerse yourself into it and get down to the facts.”

Sara Wilder, 73, is running for her sixth term on the Board of Selectmen. She said that if re-elected, she would like to keep taxes down and also work on revitalizing downtown.

“I think the board has done a good job (of keeping taxes down),” Wilder said. “I think we’ve been able to still provide most people with what they want.”

Wilder, who is retired, said that when it comes to investing in the downtown she wants to bring more sustainable businesses with good paying jobs to the area.

“I want to focus on things that would help the town, rather than bringing in just any business. I’d like to see good environmentally correct ones,” Wilder said. “I want to see the downtown grow, but in an organized and meaningful manner.”

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm


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