Marblehead school board seat remains available

MARBLEHEAD – As of noon Thursday there were still no candidates for this year’s vacant School Committee seat in the May 11 town election.The deadline for returning nomination papers to the town clerk’s office is 5 p.m. Monday, March 23. Papers may be taken out as late as March 23, but must be returned with 50 certifiable signatures.However, three of this year’s five incumbent selectmen have made it to the Abbot Hall office of Town Clerk Robin Michaud to take out papers for re-election.Selectmen Jackie Belf-Becker, Judy Jacobi and Harry Christensen have made their intentions clear. The one-year terms of Selectmen William Woodfin and James Nye are also scheduled to expire on Election Day.All five members of the Recreation and Parks Commission are also elected to one-year terms and must run for re-election if they want to keep their seats.Commission member David Rodgers is stepping down this year after 11 one-year terms, including the past two years.So far there are three candidates for the five available seats: incumbent Commissioners Charles Osborne Jr. and Linda Rice Collins and challenger Rose Ann Wheeler McCarthy.Commissioners Derek Norcross and Sam Ganglani have not taken out papers yet.There may be a race for library trustee this year. Incumbent Susan Indresano and challenger Barbara Collins Rosenberg have taken out papers for three-year seats. The terms of incumbent Peggy Blass and one-year appointee Maura Phelan Murnane also expire in May.Murnane, a Random House executive, was a candidate for the seat left vacant by Judy Gates last year and was elected by a 5-4 vote of the selectmen and remaining library trustees. If she is elected in May she will have to run again next year when Gates’s term expires.The other applicants for the trustee vacancy were financial management retiree Walter Horan and Rosenberg.Board of Assessors member Douglas Percy was also appointed to a term on that board by a vote of the selectmen and assessors last year. Percy was named to a term that expires May 11, so he will be running for a three-year seat.Town Moderator Gary Speiss has taken out papers for another one-year term. So have Cemetery Commissioner Dexter Gillis, Housing Authority member Kris J. Larson, Municipal Light Commissioners Phillip Sweeney and Wilbur Bassett, Planning Board members James Bishop and Water and Sewer Commissioner Emerson Brown.Board of Health member Carl Goodman and Planning Board member Karl Johnson haven’t taken out papers yet.