WATERVILLE — City Republicans gathered July 23 at Centerpoint Church to choose three candidates to run for municipal office in November.

Seats for Wards 2 and 5 on the city council and one seat for Ward 2 on the school board will be contested.

Republicans attending the caucus chose incumbent Phil Bofia as their candidate for city council Ward 2 and Rick Foss for Ward 5.

Bofia, a business analyst who works for CGI Group, was elected to the Ward 2 seat by the city council in January to replace former councilor Nathaniel White after he resigned and moved to Fairfield.

Phil Bofia

Rick Foss was chosen to run for the Ward 5 seat held by Jay Coelho, who won the seat as a Democrat in the November 2018 election.

In April 2018, Coelho, who identified himself as a Libertarian, led an effort to recall John O’Donnell, who had been chosen by the council to fill the seat over Coelho and two other candidates after Nick Champagne resigned the position to become city engineer. The recall effort failed in the June election. O’Donnell decided not to run in November.

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Mark Andre, right, whispers an answer to a question from the Voter Registration Appeals Board to Shaun Caron, left, during a hearing at the Chace Forum at Alfond Commons in Waterville on May 3. Morning Sentinel file photo by Michael G. Seamans

Shaun Caron was chosen by city Republicans to run for the Ward 2 seat on the school board now held by Greg Bazakas, a clinical social worker-therapist. Bazakas was chosen by the board in January to replace Susan Reisert, who resigned because she was moving to Belgrade.

Caron was among those who contested the votes of Colby College students cast in the November election, filing paperwork that the Maine State Supreme Court dismissed, and then challenging students’ votes before the Voter Registration Appeals Board, which unanimously upheld the rights of the Colby students to vote in Waterville elections.

According to Cathy Weeks, who ran for the Ward 1 city council seat last November and lost in a narrow recount to the current incumbent, Mike Morris, the three GOP candidates enjoyed the full support of those who attended the caucus.

Weeks also said that regular meetings of the Republican Party will be held this year as “new members are joining on a regular basis.”

The caucus was moderated by Waterville Mayor Nick Isgro, who is also vice chairman of the Maine Republican Party.

Waterville’s Democrat Party will hold its caucus on at 6 p.m. Monday at 1 Common St. in Waterville.

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