NEW GLOUCESTER — Chairwoman Linda Chase, Selectman Stephen Hathorne and Budget Committee member Karen Gilles are running for two seats on the Board of Selectmen on June 12.
There are also openings on the School Administrative District 15 board of directors. Jason Hart is seeking the three-year term and Laura Sturgis is seeking a partial term.
Water District Chairman Dan Bannon is the only candidate for one open seat on the board of trustees.
Chase, 55, has served on the board since 2009 and said she is running again because “there are some projects that I would like to see completed,” including the new public works garage.
The owner of an adult day care businesses and a laboratory technician, Chase said she enjoys serving on the board and is “willing to put in the work that goes along with it.”
“I think I am really good at looking outside the box,” she said.
Hathorne, 55, works in the restaurant and hospitality industry and has served on the board since 2015. He said he is running again “to continue the cleanup process” and increase government transparency in town.
Asked about his skills and experiences, Hathorne said, “just knowing the difference between right and wrong – having a conscience and having integrity.”
Gilles, 35, said she hopes to bring new ideas to complement experience on the board.
“I really think that it’s time that younger people within the town help support the community,” she said.
Gilles is a nurse and the administrator of a home health care business owned by her mother, Selectman Lenora Conger. She is also involved with the Gray-New Gloucester Development Corp. and the Maine Council on Aging. She plans to use her business experience on the board and feels she has an ability to listen to both sides and is able to argue issues instead of people, she said.
Gilles is confident that she and Conger could separate their family and board roles if they serve together.
Earlier this spring, Town Manager Carrie Castonguay said there is no prohibition on a mother and daughter serving together on the board.
In early April, Chase was one of three board members who voted to find the town’s term limit ordinance invalid based on legal advice. Before that 3-2 vote, she was set to leave office this year because of the term limit law.
Residents at last year’s annual town meeting voted 66-44 in favor of the ordinance that limited board members to three consecutive three-year terms, and required members to be off the board for three years before running again.
While a town attorney raised questions about the ordinance in January 2017 because New Gloucester lacks a charter, he advised that it could be put on last year’s town meeting warrant. A different attorney with the Maine Municipal Association provided her opinion this spring that the ordinance was not effective, leading to the vote in April.
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