York Town News
Wanted: a few good candidates
By Jennifer L. Saunders
From funding requests and ordinance changes related to York Harbor, pictured here on a recent March morning, to a compromise for the Long Sands Beach surfing zone, from a request to fund a new town hall to a new York High School arts addition, a full ballot of issues is expected to be before the voters at the town election in May. However, the focus right now is on finding candidates for a full slate of vacancies on town boards and committees.
Photo by Paul R. Ladd III
YORK - From the Board of Selectmen to the Budget Committee, a full slate of town elected posts will be up for grabs at the May election, but with only two weeks left to file nomination papers, there is a shortage of candidates to fill the boards.
As of Tuesday, not enough candidates had filed paperwork to make for even one contested race. Unless more candidates come forward, the School Committee will not have enough members to fill its two vacancies after the May vote. Meanwhile, as of Tuesday morning, the Budget Committee did not have any prospective candidates at all.
Current board members - including those whose terms are not yet expiring and those who are not seeking reelection - are quick to point out that gathering those nominating signatures is not a difficult feat as candidates are required to provide only 25 signatures of registered York voters when they submit their paperwork.
The real work begins after the election, local board members agree, but current members of the Board of Selectmen, Budget Committee and School Committee are all urging residents to step forward and take on the challenge, citing the rewards of serving the local community.
The Board of Selectmen
Two seats on the Board of Selectmen will be decided at the May election: a three-year term and a two-year term.
So far, incumbent Selectman Len Dorrian is the one candidate who has filed paperwork, seeking reelection to the seat he currently holds.
Local resident Michael Ehrenborg has taken out nomination papers for the two-year post to fill the time that remains in the term of Selectmen Torbert Macdonald, Jr., who resigned effective May 19, the date of the election, due to health concerns. As of Tuesday, however, Ehrenborg had not yet filed the papers at the Town Clerk's Office.
Service on the Board of Selectmen includes regular public meetings that vary in frequency, depending on the business of the town, as well as additional work as needed. This policy-making board is charged with setting the direction for the town's future and overseeing its progress. Selectmen are also called "overseers of the poor" denoting the town's responsibility to its residents in need.
"These elected positions can affect us all, so if you've ever considered filling a term in local government, or even if you've never considered it, now may be the time," said Selectmen Chairman David Marshall, speaking not only of the need for candidates for the Board of Selectmen, but for the other town board as well. "Last May, seven open seats on elected boards had no competition, including one that had no name on the ballot."
In the past year, the selectmen's work has included overseeing the town budget prior to its submission to the Budget Committee, addressing state decisions that have local impacts and working on real estate negotiations in an effort to purchase property for current and future municipal needs.
Marshall noted that in addition to the elected posts to be decided in May, there are also an array of appointed positions that need to be filled, from the Planning Board to the Open Space Committee.
"To be most effective, our form of government needs citizen participation," he said. "Many positions only require a limited commitment, and all of them provide an opportunity to learn something new and to give something back to your community."
For more information about the Board of Selectmen or the various appointed committees in need of members, call Town Hall at 363-1000.
The School Committee
Two three-year terms will be decided at the polls in May for the York School Committee, but it looks as though only one of those posts will have an incumbent seeking reelection.
School Committee Chairwoman Patty Hymanson announced this week that she will not be seeking a third term on the committee.
"I want to direct more attention to my family and my medical practice," Hymanson said in an open letter, coming at the end of her sixth year on the committee. "I hope this letter can serve as a gentle prod to someone who is passionate about the education of our community, who wants to give back to our community in important ways and who cares about our children and young adults, to run for a seat on the committee."
As of Tuesday, only incumbent School Committee member Mary-Jane Merrill had taken out nomination papers to serve on one of the two seats that will be available on the committee. Those papers had not yet been returned.
The School Committee is involved in an array of duties in relation to the York School Department, from negotiations for staff contracts to curriculum development to the annual budget approval process. Like the selectmen on the town side of the budget equation, the School Committee reviews the School Department budget and makes changes prior to the Budget Committee's discussions and decisions on funding requests.
This year, the School Committee has also had the added challenge of responding to Gov. John Baldacci's proposal to reduce the number of school districts statewide, which would place York into an 18,000-student, multi-town and multi-school regional district if approved by the legislature.
Committee members have spoken publicly, attended hearings in Augusta and written letters to get the word out about the need for a better plan for York, with the full support of the Board of Selectmen.
Hymanson noted in her letter that although the implications of a state plan remain to be seen, York continues to need a strong School Committee.
"Our biggest successes these past six years have been creating a kindergarten-to-adult curriculum, updating our entire policy handbook, creating an arts wing plan and supporting a working five-year strategic plan, attracting and retaining many excellent teachers, rebounding from a significant budget cut, gaining voter approval for our budgets, responding to issues with intention, to name a few," she wrote, adding more challenges await, including "to be able to pay teachers more if they are great teachers, not more just because they have worked in our district for many years."
For more information on serving on the York School Committee, e-mail schoolboard@yorkschools.org.
As Hymanson said prior to announcing she would not seek another term, "Please think about it. It's a wonderful way to interact with the town, to give back to the community."
The Budget Committee
If you have a passion for numbers, for knowing how much things cost and why the town and schools fund things the way they do, then the York Budget Committee is just the board for you.
And in May, there will be three seats available on the Budget Committee: two three-year terms currently held by Chairman Greg Orso and Vice Chairman Rudy Freitag, and a one-year term currently held by Nancy Eaton, who has resigned effective the date of the May election.
As of Tuesday, however, no one had come forward to take out nomination papers for any of those terms.
The lack of candidates for the Budget Committee was an issue at last year's election as well, where only David Lincoln filed paperwork to appear on the ballot and Greg Filias was elected to fill the second available seat on the board in a two-way write-in campaign.
Then, in December, Orso stepped in to the chairman's role just in time for "budget season" after former Chairman Windol Weaver was elected state representative and resigned from his post. Orso was a member of the committee for many years before deciding not to seek another term last year due to work and family obligations.
Neither Orso nor Freitag, who has also served on the board for many years, are expected to run in May due to personal reasons.
As a first-year member of the board, Lincoln spoke recently of what it means to serve on the committee.
"We need to encourage citizens who have an interest, who have a discipline and who have an education" in finance or its related fields, Lincoln said of the search for potential Budget Committee members, adding it is important to "make sure that the folks who take out the nomination papers know what the job is."
And while the Budget Committee customarily makes headlines in the months of January, February and March as the annual budget review process gets into full swing, Lincoln pointed out that serving on the board is a 12-month commitment. The board meets monthly during the remainder of the year, receiving updates and reports from the town, York Public Library and York School Department on budget status and future plans.
Lincoln said his goal as a committee member is to make York's full budget process accessible to the voters through those meetings and such new initiatives as a voter guide to explain budget items on the ballot.
"The Town Charter specifies two areas of activity for the Budget Committee," Lincoln said, pointing to the annual budget process and the ongoing reviews of the town's financial operations.
These, he said, are ways "to make the whole financial dimension more transparent to the voters."
For more information on the Budget Committee, visit www.yorkmaine.org.
The Other Races
Other posts to be decided in May included the town treasurer position currently held by Margaret McIntosh, who has filed her paperwork to seek another term; a five-year term on the York Water District Board of Trustees, for which incumbent Ed Walsh has returned his nomination papers, and a five-year term on the York Sewer District Board of Trustees, for which Robert Hoyt is the sole candidate to have filed papers.
"Any adult resident could qualify for office, and petitions to run for any of these seats require only 25 signatures from fellow York registered voters," Marshall said.
York residents interested in seeking election to any of the posts may pick up nomination papers at the Town Clerk's Office at Town Hall during regular business hours. Papers are due back no later than April 5.
An array of other decisions will also be decided at the polls, including the annual budget vote and ordinance change requests. The Independent will provide full details on the May ballot requests as the election approaches.
