WELD — Elections for municipal positions will be held 4-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, at the town hall, 17 School Street.
Town Clerk Carol Cochran said recently that the date for the annual town meeting, usually held the first Saturday in March, is still to be determined. It is hoped that the the meeting could be held outdoors later this year under the current COVID-19 guidelines or that the restrictions on gatherings might be eased, she said.
Four positions will be selected by voters Tuesday. All are unopposed.
Dina Walker is seeking a three-year seat on the board of selectmen. Thomas Skolfield, who currently holds the position, is not seeking re-election.
Brian Haynes is looking to fill the remaining two years of the selectman seat currently held by David Rackliffe.
In an email Tuesday, Haynes said he was running for the selectman seat for two reasons.
“The biggest of the two is that I want to help out the town to the best of my abilities,” he wrote. “I believe local government is very important and influential on an individual basis. By that I mean the position is directly involved with the people in their community so it is able to listen to and resolve the concerns at a micro level.”
He also wants to use the experience and knowledge gained as a selectman to potentially further his career.
“I currently work for Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) out of the Wilton office where I am an Operations Manager,” he noted. “I’ve been with MDOT for 15 years, almost my whole adult life, where I have worked my way up from where I started as a heavy equipment mechanic.”
Haynes has lived in Weld for approximately 15 years. He lived in Dixfield but moved to town after meeting Lila Cochran, who is now his wife. The couple has two children.
In an email Wednesday, Walker wrote she is seeking the position of Selectperson because she wants to contribute to the town’s welfare through public service.
Walker noted she and her family moved to Weld in 2018 and are full time residents.
“I’m a lawyer by profession and practiced corporate law for 13 years,” she wrote. “This is my first time running for public office.”
Walker and her husband Dirk have two sons. One lives in Weld, the other in Philadelphia.
Kelly Hutchinson is running for another three-year term as road commissioner, Carol Cochran had said.
During an earlier phone interview, she said no one had taken out papers for a five-year term on the planning board. This week, Cochran said that Stanley Wilcox had agreed to be a write-in candidate.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.