Nine candidates interested in Marblehead selectmen seats

MARBLEHEAD – With only one weekend to go before the deadline for the May 9 town election, there is no race in sight for the two available School Committee seats – but nine candidates have emerged for the five seats on the Board of Selectmen.There are also races for the available seats on the Planning Board and Municipal Light Commission, and one available seat on the Recreation and Parks Commission.The deadline to turn in nomination papers is 5 p.m. Monday.Leggs Hill Road resident Christopher Hartley, a frequent critic of traffic controls in his neighborhood since the new YMCA opened there, has taken out papers for a seat on the Board of Selectmen.He joins former Selectman Harry Christensen, six-term Recreation and Park Commission member Derek Norcross, risk management analyst Bret Murray, Cemetery Commission member RoseAnn Wheeler McCarthy and incumbents James Nye, Judy Jacobi, Mike Rockett and Jackie Belf-Becker. Hartley, Christensen and McCarthy have all run for selectman before. Christensen is the only one who was successful.Norcross is also a candidate for re-election to the Recreation and Parks Commission, along with Linda Rice Collins, Sam Ganglani and Charles “Chip” Osborne. The fifth incumbent on the commission, Charles Nyren, has not taken out papers and no other candidates have emerged.Norcross can serve on both boards if he is elected to both. If a fifth candidate fails to emerge before the deadline and no one runs as a write-in candidate, commission members will caucus with selectmen to elect a candidate after the town election.So far incumbent Dick Nohelty and budget-focused challenger Barton Hyte are the only candidates for School Committee.Philip Helmes, Kurt James and challenger Ralph Khouri are seeking the two available seats on the Planning Board and Charles O. Phillips and challenger John Arata are seeking the available seat on the Municipal Light Commission.Jean Howe and challenger Susan Indresano are seeking the two available seats on the Abbot Public Library Trustees. Town Clerk Robin Michaud said Wednesday she will not seek re-election to her trustee seat.