Kittery Town Council race uncontested. 4 running for 3 School Committee seats

Ian Lenahan, Portsmouth Herald
·2 min read

KITTERY, Maine — Barring any write-in candidacies, the fall Kittery Town Council election will be an uncontested race.

The town announced that only two residents, including an incumbent councilor, submitted nomination paperwork for the two Town Council seats that will be on the ballot in the town’s November general election.

Kittery Town Hall
Kittery Town Hall

Councilor Mary Gibbons Stevens, elected in June 2021 to finish the vacated term of a former council member, is running for re-election to her seat, according to Town Clerk Karen Estee. The second candidate in the fall council election is Celestyne Fisher-Bragg, a citizen representative on the town’s economic development committee.

Stevens, a freshman councilor, was elected to a shortened term after ex-councilor Charles Denault resigned from the Town Council in the spring of 2021.

Kittery Town Council member Mary Gibbons Stevens is running for reelection to the body in the fall election.
Kittery Town Council member Mary Gibbons Stevens is running for reelection to the body in the fall election.

Longtime Kittery councilor Jeffrey Pelletier, formerly the chairperson of the town’s School Committee, holds the second seat expiring this fall but did not declare candidacy for reelection. Pelletier, whose current term began in November 2019, has served multiple terms on the Town Council since voters first elected him to the body in 2009.

Town Councilor Jeffrey Pelletier, seen here listening to public comment on the Dennett Landing project in July, didn't file papers to run for re-election this November.
Town Councilor Jeffrey Pelletier, seen here listening to public comment on the Dennett Landing project in July, didn't file papers to run for re-election this November.

Both three-year Town Council positions will begin this fall and end in November 2025.

Four candidates, a trio of whom presently serve on the Kittery School Committee, will run for the three seats on the School Committee.

Two of the incumbent candidates are committee chairperson and vice chairperson Julie Dow and Kim Bedard, while the third current committee member seeking another term is Rhonda Pomerleau. All were elected to their seats in November 2019.

The fourth School Committee candidate is resident Ben Briggs.

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Estee added that declared write-in candidates have until Thursday, Sept. 1 to submit paperwork to be placed on the fall election ballot.

Per an announcement last week, the town is accepting applications from citizens seeking to vote by absentee ballot. Voters can request an absentee ballot until Thursday evening, Nov. 3.

The municipal and state general election will take place inside the Kittery Community Center gymnasium on Tuesday, Nov. 8 from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Information: kitteryme.gov/town-clerk/pages/voting-elections

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kittery ME to hold election Town Council and School Committee