ALFRED — Voters in Alfred go to the polls on Friday to elect two selectmen and a school board member, and will reconvene on Saturday for the municipality’s annual town meeting.

Incumbent Selectman Glenn Dochtermann is unopposed for a three-year term, but there are five vying to fill the last two years of a three-year term that became vacant earlier this year when longtime selectman John Sylvester resigned.

In the running for that two-year seat are John Bshara, Robert Flaherty, Heidi Gendreau, Art Karcher and Anthony “Tony” Palminteri.

John Flagler is unopposed for director of Regional School Unit 57.

Voting takes place 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at Conant Chapel, adjacent to Town Hall on Saco Road.

The annual town meeting, during which voters will vote on a $2.5 million budget, takes place at 10 a.m. Saturday at Alfred Elementary School on Route 202.

During the town meeting, voters will also vote on measures that would:

• Change the town’s operations from its current calendar year to a fiscal year beginning July 1 to align with RSU 57 and the state. This is a non-binding advisory vote; selectmen will ultimately have the final vote.

• Phase in per diem staffing at Alfred Fire & Rescue by appropriating $57,000

• Increase salaries of town employees by 3 percent

• Approve a health insurance increase of 8.5 percent

• Decrease some social service agency contributions to align with amounts given by other towns

• Establish a Brothers Beach Committee, and amend the shoreland zoning ordinance

If all town meeting articles are approved as presented, Alfred residents owning property valued at $200,000 will see a potential tax increase of about $100 this year. That figure does not include county tax or the tax impact of Alfred’s contribution to the RSU 57 budget, which will be decided later this year.

Candidates for the two-year selectman’s term recently weighed in on their background and reasons for running:

• Palminteri, 64, is retired from a career in broadcasting sales and as a small business owner. A 40-year Alfred resident, he is vice chairman of the town’s Budget Committee. He noted that Alfred’s population jumped by 20 percent in the last census, but that enrollment in the elementary school has dropped 15 percent.

“The town is getting older, and people are living on fixed incomes. It creates a challenge,” said Palminteri.

He likes the Comprehensive Plan Committee’s idea of developing a business district along Route 111, with design standards. He said Alfred needs to annually set aside money specifically earmarked for purchases such as ambulances, which cost $250,000 and must be replaced about every 10 years.

Palminteri also said Alfred roads have had a Band-Aid approach to care, and need work.

• Flaherty, 36, was raised in Alfred, and owns a towing business with his father. The father of two elementary school students, Flaherty said he would encourage the growth of small business to help keep property taxes down.

He said there needs to be better communication by selectmen, whom he said need to get out and talk with residents and welcome people to their meetings.

Flaherty has not previously served on town committees – which he believes may be advantageous, because as a selectman, he wouldn’t feel biased toward any of them.

He said his youth may be an advantage as well. “I’ve got to think about the next 30 years. I want my kids to be able to live here too,” Flaherty said.

• Karcher, 76, is retired from a career as a project engineer. A longtime Planning Board member, he also serves on the Comprehensive Plan Committee.

“We need to work on our infrastructure, and we’ve done some foolish things in the past by buying land,” Karcher said, referring to a vote last year to purchase Brother’s Beach on Shaker Pond. He said Alfred should sell the 20 acres it owns on Estes Lake and put the money to road repairs.

Karcher noted the RSU 57 budget is going up, but enrollment is decreasing. He’d like to see York County Shelter put a rider on its insurance policy to help pay for ambulance costs the town incurs when it responds there – $13,000 in 2015, according to Karcher.

And if the York County Court House were to become vacant, it could become a commercial property, adding to the tax base, he said.

• Heidi Gendreau, 54, is a private duty nurse. She’s been a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals for six years, and chair for the past two years.

She’s also on the Comprehensive

Plan Committee, which she said helped open her eyes. “It made me aware of how things happen, and how things don’t change,” she said.

Gendreau said roads are in tough shape, and will be costly to repair. Alfred needs a three- to five-year plan for road work rather than waiting until roads are so damaged, it costs more to fix them, she said.

Gendreau also spoke about issues she sees with York County Shelter and how she believes it impacts Alfred taxpayers, referring to ambulance billings. She believes York County Jail should pay more for ambulance runs to that facility.

• John Bshara, 53, retired from the U.S. Air Force after 21 years. He works at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and is in his last year as an economics major at the University of Southern Maine, where he is attending the Muskie School of Public Service.

“I grew up in Alfred. My parents worked opposite shifts, so Alfred raised me,” he said. These days, Bshara is a new homeowner – and a new taxpayer.

“I’ve taken classes in public finance, and I see how complex that decision making is,” he said.

Bshara has not previously served on town committees, but he wants to get more involved, and running for selectman is a way to do that, he said. If elected, he plans to learn the top two or three issues by talking to people. Taxes, he said, are not his only concern.

“You need to understand what other people’s concerns are, and then you can start making an impact,” he said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.