WILTON — Voters today will pick from three candidates running for selectman in a special election. They are competing to fill the two years remaining of the term of Paul Gooch, who is stepping down early to move to Wells.

The Board of Selectmen seat will be decided along with other local issues and statewide primary elections during voting at the Town Office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Candidates Paul Berkey Jr., Chris Krauss and Tiffany Maiuri provided the following details about themselves during separate phone interviews Monday.

Berkey, 44, works as a custodian and bus driver for Regional School Unit 73 in Jay. He also owns 12 apartment units that he manages in Wilton, where he lives with his wife, Deedra, and their two daughters, Brittany and Kayla.

He grew up in Wilton and credited his lifelong commitment to the community’s success as the reason he is running again for selectman, having lost his first bid for the same seat last year.

Berkey volunteers at the local food pantry and belongs to the Wilton Lions Club, working with his fellow group members on various other community projects.

His top priorities, if elected, are attracting more businesses and residents to the community. He plans to expand on recent efforts by town officials to promote abandoned and underutilized industrial sites, such as the former Bass shoe factory and tannery site on U.S. Route 2.

Krauss, 65, handles the marketing for her family’s woodworking business, Organic Furnishings by Native Woods. She lives with her husband, Gary, and the couple owns the Temple Road business in town with their son-in-law Christopher Keene, who is married to their daughter Danielle.

Krauss lived in Coplin Plantation in the 1970s before she moved away for a while, meeting her husband while she worked as a flight attendant. The couple moved backed to Franklin County and settled in Wilton in 1988.

She volunteers for various local community advocacy groups, including her work promoting the local Grange’s efforts. She touted her experience in the 1990s as a case worker for then-U.S. Rep. John Baldacci as teaching her about public policy and politics.

If elected, she said, that experience will help her find ways to ensure Wilton reaches its long-term goals, which motivated her to run for selectwoman.

Maiuri, 46, works at University of Maine at Farmington as a director of information technology. She also works on various projects integrating technology programs throughout the entire University of Maine System.

She moved to Maine in 1999 from Massachusetts and is a former U.S. merchant marine officer. She lived in Industry briefly before settling in 2006 in Wilton, where she has raised four foster children.

Among her top goals, if elected, is to continue to help the community grow to benefit the area’s businesses and residents alike. She already has written several successful grants for the town of Wilton and UMF to secure government funding for projects that benefited the region. She also already volunteers her time to help Wilton town officials manage their public safety computer programs.

Maiuri lost a bid for the same seat last year. She said she decided to run again because the community has become her home and she wants to be part of helping it thrive in the future.

David F. Robinson — 861-9287

[email protected]