The Town of Mattapoisett will have two candidates running for one open seat on the Select Board after Chairman and incumbent Jordan Collyer returned papers to the town clerk’s office on March 25, joining relative unknown Donald R. Lamarr, who returned papers two days earlier. The winner gets a three-year term.
The other two Select Board members, Jodi Bauer and Tyler Macallister, won their seats last year.
Mattapoisett’s only other contested race will be among three candidates vying for two seats on the Trustees of the Public Library, also at a term of three years. Incumbent Michael Rosa is running for reelection, but Barbara Gaspar, whose term is also up, is not. Rosa’s challengers are Donald Fleming and William Coquillette.
The school committees will see movement this year, as Karin Barrows will not seek reelection to the Mattapoisett School Committee, and the emergency appointment of long-time member Carole Clifford is also up without action to seek another term. Two candidates, Molly Richards and Kearney Klein, are running for three-year terms in the two open seats.
The three-year term of Suzanne Tseki is up on the Old Rochester Regional School Committee, and Tseki is not seeking reelection. But Rose Bowman, the retiring principal of Mattapoisett Schools, returned her nomination papers on March 17.
Janice Robbins is not running for reelection to the Planning Board. Attorney John Mathieu, who has served in the past, returned his papers seeking a five-year term with no announced opposition.
The open seat vacated by Dana Barrows on the Water/Sewer commission had no candidate at Tuesday’s deadline.
The only other change scheduled will be Mattapoisett’s Herring inspector. Robert Martin is not seeking reelection, but Jonathan Wilbur is running unopposed for the three-year term.
The rest of the town’s elected offices will be filled by unopposed incumbents: Ken Dawicki (three years) on the Board of Health; Suzanne Kennedy (five years) on the Housing Authority; Cary Leblanc (three years) Assessors; Susan Wilbur and James Pierson (two years) on the Community Preservation Committee; Donald Bliss and Kenneth Pacheco (three years) Constable; Roland Cote (three years) Tree Warden and John A. Eklund (one year) as Moderator.
Thursday, April 14, at 5:00 pm is the deadline for candidates to withdraw their bids or for objections to their candidacy be raised, and Tuesday, April 19, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, is the final day to register to vote in Mattapoisett.
The Mattapoisett Town Election will be held on Tuesday, May 17, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm at Old Hammondtown School.
By Mick Colageo