A small sea of familiar faces dominated the Town Hall meeting room during the Feb. 28 Town Caucus. The eight-minute event resulted in the nomination of 15 candidates. Later, three additional candidates turned in nomination papers by the March 2 deadline. Fourteen of the 18 candidates are incumbents. No positions are contested, so a successful write-in campaign is all that might stand in a candidate’s path to town office.
New Planning Board member
One seat on the Planning Board will change hands, that of member Joe Hutchinson. He began working on the Master Plan as a citizen-at-large in 2011 and was elected to the Planning Board in 2012. “My idea was that the Master Plan could provide a framework for how the Planning Board and the town could operate,” Hutchinson said. When his term concludes, he intends to continue working on the Master Plan.
Council on Aging board member Fran Nickerson is running for Hutchinson’s vacant seat. Nickerson told the Press that, given the large percentage of seniors in Harvard, she thought it was important that they be represented on the Planning Board to address issues such as a lack of downsizing options.
After serving for seven years on the School Committee, Patricia Wenger is not running for re-election. “There are two great candidates stepping up, so it is time to step down and let some new and fresh talent onto the board,” said Wenger.
Bob Sullebarger is also stepping down from the School Committee after three years of service because of the overseas travel required by his job.
Nancy Lancelloti, past PTO president, and Mary Traphagen, past School Council member, are running for the two vacated seats.
Ted Maxant is running for the Cemetery Commission seat being vacated by Whit Sprague. No candidate stepped forward for the seat being vacated by Brian Schimpf on the Warner Free Lecture Trustees. The 2015 Town Election will be held on April 7.
