NAHANT – With the nomination papers in, there is one race in Nahant that will leave residents wondering whether Joyce Maroney could be the one to break Michael Manning’s 18-year streak on the Nahant Board of Selectmen.Maroney said that’s not why she’s running.”I can’t tell you there’s a specific issue I would disagree with Mike Manning on,” she said in a phone interview Friday. “I’m running because I want to run.”With a campaign slogan of “One Nahant,” Maroney said her focus is to make the town more united.”Things in town have become very divided in a way that wasn’t necessary,” she said. “I’m not pinning that on Mike. That’s just the way I lead my life, with more unity around problem-solving in town instead of people picking a position and being unwilling to move off of them.”Maroney, who is chairman of the Finance Committee, believes attention needs to be paid to Nahant’s finite resources in order to address items such as the future of the Coast Guard property, managing school expenses and maintaining a high level of public safety, and maintaining the town’s streets and other public properties.Maroney’s campaign is in full swing, with signs placed around the town, a Facebook page and website, and a meet-and-greet event she held on March 2 with a grilled cheese truck to help her cause.Meanwhile, current selectmen Chairman Manning, who is running to serve a seventh term, said he is sticking to his stand-by in terms of campaign strategy. Manning said for every race he’s run, he opts for “direct contact” instead of signs. “It’s a lot of walking around and talking to people,” he said. Manning has been thanking his fellow islanders for their support and highlighting his contributions to the town for the last 30 years.As of his plans for next year, Manning said if he is elected on April 27 he wants to make sure the compost area in town is made to be more sustainable. “It’s improved over the last year, but not enough to satisfy me,” he said. “I have been talking to the Department of Public Works Superintendent and the Town Administrator over how to improve operations and increase the ability to bring it into a sustainable operation.”That includes finding a way to distribute the compost and forming an advisory committee to manage the practice of handling solid waste, said Manning.Of Maroney as competition, Manning said “I usually let the candidates speak for themselves, and I just put my case forward.”Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].