HOULTON, Maine — Individuals interested in public service will have numerous opportunities to participate this fall.
One of the highest number of seats for town council and school board in recent memory are open this fall with four seats available on the Houlton Town Council, and five seats up for grabs on the RSU 29 school board, according to Houlton Town Clerk Cathy O’Leary.
Individuals interested in serving on either board must obtain nomination papers from the town office. A total of 71 signatures from registered voters must be obtained by the Sept. 8 deadline.
The three-year terms available on the Houlton Town Council are currently held by Chairman Jane Torres, Sue Tortello and Hal Britton, while the fourth seat, a two-year term, was held by Harry “Jim” Bell who died unexpectedly June 19.
Normally when a seat becomes open either due to a resignation or death, a replacement is appointed. O’Leary said the council has opted not to fill Bell’s seat until the November election because of the relatively short amount of time before the election.
In addition, Torres will be unable to seek re-election to the group due to the town’s term limit policy, which stipulates a person may only serve two consecutive terms on the board. After a two-year span off the board, a person may seek re-election.
The town council is a seven-member board, with its chairman serving in a non-voting capacity except to break tie votes. According to the town’s charter, that vote may only be in the affirmative.
Councilor Tortello has already taken out nomination papers and is seeking re-election to the board. It was undetermined whether Britton was seeking re-election.
For the RSU 29 school board, three of the five available seats are for three-year terms. Those seats currently belong to Sue McLaughlin, Scott White and Erica Peabody-Fitzpatrick. The remaining two seats are two-year terms and were previously held by Jessica Milligan and Lori Holmes, who both resigned from the board. Raymond Jay was appointed to fill Milligan’s seat until the November election.
In addition to those two boards, there are seven seats available on the town’s Board of Budget Review, two seats open on the Houlton Water Company board of directors and one seat on the Cary Library board of trustees.
