Swampscott town election nomination papers certified; only one race contested

SWAMPSCOTT-The election office has certified nomination papers for all candidates seeking office in the annual town election.The only contested race this year is for the Board of Assessors where two newcomers will jockey for one seat. Connie Goudreau and Linda Paster are running for the seat currently held by John Phelan III, who is not running for re-election.Angela Ippolito is running unopposed for a three-year term on the Planning Board. The Planning Board vacancy was created when Jeffrey Blonder, whose term was to run through 2012, resigned in October when he was deployed to Afghanistan.Selectman Adam Forman is not running for re-election and Matthew Strauss is the only candidate on the ballot for his seat. School Committee member David Whelan is not running for re-election and Jackie Kinney is a shoo-in for his seat.Incumbent Patrick Jones is running unopposed for another five year term on the Planning Board and Incumbent Nelson Kessler is running unopposed for another term on the Board of Health. Housing Authority member James Hughes and Moderator Martin Goldman are also running unopposed for another term.John Karwowski is the sole candidate for the the Board of Library Trustees.Town Clerk Sue Duplin said there are 324 Town Meeting members. There are 54 seats per precinct and 18 seats in each precinct are up for re-election each year. Connie Hayes, who works in the Town Clerk’s Office, said there are 108 Town Meeting seats up for re-election this year and no candidates on the ballot for 30 of those seats. She said the seats without candidates on the ballot would be decided by write-in votes. Out of the 18 seats in each precinct up for grabs there are 11 vacancies in Precinct 1, five slots in Precinct 2, eight in Precinct 3, three in Precinct 4, two in Precinct 5 and one in Precinct 1.In recent years up to 20 percent of Town Meeting seats have been filled by write-in candidates and this year more than 50 percent of the seats will be filled by write-ins. The size of Town Meeting was a topic of discussion a couple of years ago. In 2007, a committee was formed at the 2006 Town Meeting through a recommendation of the Swampscott Charter Review Committee. According to that committee, Swampscott has the second largest Town Meeting in the state, following Fairhaven, which has 422 members. The committee, which is now defunct, recommended reducing the size of Town Meeting from 324 members ? 54 per precinct ? to a total of 216 members, and 36 per precinct. That recommendation was voted down by Town Meeting.Residents have until 8 p.m. on April 8 to register to vote in the upcoming town election.