HOULTON, Maine — Nomination papers are available for a number of open seats on the Houlton Town Council and RSU 29 school board.
According to Town Clerk Cathy O’Leary, three seats on the town council are up for grabs, while two seats are available for the school board. In addition, seven seats are available on the town’s Board of Budget Review.
Interested individuals must take out nomination papers from the town office, located at 21 Water St. To be successfully added to the ballot, an individual must collect 74 signatures of registered voters by 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9.
Two three-year terms are available for the council. Those seats currently belong to councilors Raymond Jay and Bill McCluskey. Both men are completing their first three-year terms and are eligible to seek re-election.
Houlton limits town councilors to two consecutive three-year terms on the board.
A two-year term on the board is also available. That seat was originally filled by Joe McKenna, who resigned earlier this year. John White was appointed to fill that position until the next election.
For the RSU 29 school board, two three-year seats are available. Those seats currently belong to board chairman Fred Grant and Ellen Askren. RSU 29 does not have a term limit policy for its board.
The town’s Board of Budget Review is in need of several people this November. Three three-year terms, three two-year seats and one one-year spot are all available. Donna Barnard-Johnson and Dorothy Donahue currently serve on the board.
In addition, two seats (both three-year terms) on the Houlton Water Company Board of Directors are available and one seat (five-year term) on the Cary Library Board of Trustees is available.
Write-in candidates must declare their intentions to the town office no later than Sept. 23 to have any votes for them counted, Leary added. Any person who receives votes as a write-in, but did not declare by the deadline that they wished to be a write-in candidate, will not have those votes counted.
For information, call Houlton Town Office at 532-7111.
