Kennebunk Select Board, RSU 21 school board candidates to square off. Here are details.

KENNEBUNK, Maine — Voters, mark your calendars for Thursday, May 19 — lots of local candidates will be answering questions and weighing in on the issues that night.

Candidates for the Kennebunk Select Board and the RSU 21 School Board will be participating in back-to-back forums. All are hoping voters will choose them during the annual town elections to be held throughout the area on Tuesday, June 14.

RSU 21 School Board

First up will be candidates in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel who are hoping to make the grade as newly elected members of the RSU 21 School Board. Four of the five incumbents – Tim Stentiford and Matt Fadiman, of Kennebunk, Loreta McDonnell, of Kennebunkport, and Ira Camp, of Arundel – are not seeking reelection.

In Kennebunk, three candidates are seeking the two available seats: Gayle Asmussen Spofford, who has served on the School Board before, and Andrew Freda and Claudia Sayre, both of whom have run for seats in the past.

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In Kennebunkport, newcomers Jameson Spang Daus and Benjamin Rubin are in the contest for a single three-year term to succeed McDonnell and represent Kennebunkport on the School Board.

Lastly, in Arundel, Ryan McQueen is the only candidate seeking to claim the seat currently occupied by School Board member Erin Nadeau. Earlier this year, the Arundel Board of Selectmen appointed Nadeau to the seat vacated by Todd Shea after just a few months of service. This time around, Nadeau is seeking to succeed Camp and claim a full, three-year term. McQueen, sure to be elected, barring a successful write-in candidacy, would complete the term Shea started and Nadeau has since continued.

The forum will be held in the boardroom at Kennebunk Elementary School and will be streamed online on the district’s website from 5 to 7 p.m.

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Kennebunk Select Board

Three candidates. Two seats. One night for questions and answers.

The candidates running for the Kennebunk Select Board are incumbent Chair Blake Baldwin and political newcomers Miriam Whitehouse and Leslie Trentalange. They will discuss local issues during a Q&A forum at the Town Hall at 1 Summer Street at 6:30 p.m.

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Members of the public may attend the forum or catch it live on either channel 5 or online at TownHallStreams.com.

While two seats are up for grabs, Baldwin is the only incumbent on the ballot, as fellow Selectperson Frank Paul has opted not to seek another term.

Last month, Baldwin said in an email that Kennebunk is at an "inflection point," with pending leadership changes expected in the coming year. He said his education, training, life experience and six years on the Select Board make him "uniquely qualified" to lead the community through such a period.

"I have unfinished work on several initiatives that I would like the opportunity to complete," Baldwin said.

He added that he also has new ideas that he would like to pursue. One involves creating a river walk connecting the downtown through Rotary Park to the new Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center that is relocating to Brown Street in 2023.

Whitehouse is a newly retired microbiologist and a longtime volunteer in Kennebunk. Most recently, she served as a spokesperson for The Upstanders, a local group that opposed the effort to recall RSU 21 School Board member Tim Stentiford earlier this year.

In an interview in April, Whitehouse said she is running because the town is at a “vital and exciting crossroads.” She mentioned the search to replace retiring Town Manager Michael Pardue and local efforts to update the town charter as two examples. The Select Board has worked on both matters during recent meetings and workshops.

“People are aware of what’s happening in town government more than I can ever remember,” Whitehouse said last month. “In recent years, it seems as if Town Hall has become increasingly disconnected from the people who live and pay their taxes here. I would like to see that change by encouraging a two-way dialogue and more participation in the Select Board decisions.”

Trentalagne is a U.S. Navy veteran, an actress, and a marketer at Generations Dentistry in Arundel. In April, she too spoke of the hiring process for Pardue’s successor and the charter work that is anticipated, saying she would be “honored to be a part of the process.”

“After watching the divisions in our community continue to grow, I wish to listen and work with others to bridge those gaps,” she said.

Given the trio of Baldwin, Whitehouse and Trentalange on the ballot, women are certain to comprise the majority of the Select Board when it meets for the first time of the new fiscal year in July.

Last year, Selectpersons Kortney Nedeau, Sally Carpenter, and Lisa Pratt all won seats on the seven-member board. Even if Baldwin wins re-election, the composition of the board would become four women and three men, given the victory of either Trentalange or Whitehouse.

Shortly after the deadline passed for submitting nomination papers on April 15, Town Clerk Merton Brown confirmed that it would be the first time in town history that the local Select Board would have a female majority.

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Elsewhere

Both Kennebunkport and Wells have contested select board races in June, but neither community has a Candidates Night scheduled at this time.

In Kennebunkport, four candidates are vying for two three-year terms on the local Board of Selectmen. They are incumbent Chair Sheila Matthews-Bull, Robin Phillips, Larry Keller and Jon Dykstra. Selectman Patrick Briggs has decided not to seek re-election.

In Wells, incumbent Vice-Chair John MacLeod III and fellow candidates Mark Bagdasaria, Scott DeFelice, Karl Ekstedt, Jonathan Goodine, and David Jutras are seeking two three-year seats available on the Select Board. Selectmen Chair Sean Roche has opted not to pursue another term.

In Arundel and Ogunquit, the select board races are uncontested.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk ME Select Board, RSU 21 school board candidates