ROCKINGHAM — With the deadline for petitions for spots on this year's town election ballot passed, it looks like several positions on the School Board will remain empty. In contrast, open Selectboard and Library Trustee positions will be hotly contested.
No one is running for the three-year Rockingham school director position previously held by Thomas Brennan, who is not returning.
Only one candidate has thrown a hat in the ring for the two-year position: Richard “Rick” Holloway. However, Colin James and Sherri Arvin will contest the open one-year seat.
On the Bellows Falls Union High School Board, incumbent Jim “Jiggs” McAuliffe is running unopposed for the three-year seat. The one-year seat previously held by Russell Capron, who died on Jan. 14, has one candidate: Cindy Anne Santorelli.
Three open Selectboard seats are hotly contested this year, however.
Peter Golec, the incumbent for the single three-year seat, is challenged by newcomer Joel Love and Thom MacPhee.
MacPhee holds one of the two expiring one-year seats, and is vying for one of those two open seats. He and incumbent Susan Hammond are challenged by Stefan Golec, Joel Love, and Deborah Wright.
Candidates may run for two different positions on the Selectboard, but after the election the winner must choose which term he or she intends to serve.
The incumbents for the rest of the municipal positions are running unopposed. Town Moderator (Michael P. Harty), Town Agent (L. Ray Massucco), Lister (Paul Noble), and town Grand Juror (George Kuusela) are all up for one-year seats.
Trustee of Public Funds Doreen Aldrich and Trustee of the Campbell Fund Brenda Doherty are up for three-year seats.
Promising to be the most contentious race on the ballot: the four seats on the Rockingham Free Public Library Board of Trustees, with seven candidates vying.
Laura Senes and Elayne Clift (who replaced Trustee David Buckley, who resigned in protest last fall) will not seek reelection.
L. Ray Massucco (who replaced former Trustee Steve Fuller, who also resigned last summer), and another incumbent, Deborah Wright, are challenged for three open seats by Doreen Aldrich, Carol Blackwood, and Joel Love.
David Gould and Wright are vying for the one-year seat being vacated by Clift.
Rockingham's Annual Town Meeting is Monday, March 3, at 7 p.m. in the Bellows Falls Opera House at the Town Hall. Voting for officers is Tuesday, March 4, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.