Milton Select Board, school committee seats and more on the ballot Tuesday

MILTON – Races for openings on the select board, school committee and other offices should attract about a third of the town's voters to the polls for Tuesday's town election, Town Clerk Susan Galvin predicted.

"I think somewhere between 30 and 35 percent," Galvin replied when asked how many voters she expected to cast a ballot.

There are five candidates running for two seats on the select board: incumbent Richard Wells, who is seeking a third term; Cindy Christiansen, a longtime activist on aircraft noise issues; Philip Johenning, who ran for the select board two years ago; Benjamin Zoll, a former town meeting member; and George Ashur, a former warrant committee chairman.

Select board chair Arthur Doyle is not seeking reelection.

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School committee members Ada Rosmarin and Elizabeth White are also not seeking reelection. There are four candidates for the two seats: Bao Qiu, of Pleasant Street; Daniel O'Neil, of Spafford Road; Mark Loring, of Randolph Avenue; and former school committee member Leroy Walker.

Voters will decide if the job of town treasurer remains elective or becomes appointive, but either way there are two candidates for the one-year term: Michael Keith Deane, of Howe Street, and Johanna McCarthy, of Highland Street.

If the ballot question wins, whoever is elected will serve as treasurer until the town administrator makes an appointment. If it is defeated, the new treasurer would serve the full year.

Treasurer James McAuliffe is retiring.

The contest for two seats on the planning board once featured a large field, but three candidates withdrew after filing nomination papers. The remaining candidates are incumbent Cheryl Friedman Tougias and Jim Davis, of Centre Street.

Planning board member Richard Boehler is not seeking reelection.

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Candidates who will not have an opponent on the ballot are Assessor Brian Manning Cronin, board of health member Roxanne Musto, park commissioner Theodore Carroll and cemetery trustee James Coyne.

Three library trustees are unopposed for reelection: John Folcarelli, Kristine Hodlin and Sindu Meier.

Robert Powers of Cliff Road is unopposed for a five-year housing authority seat. Incumbent Earl Fay is not seeking re-election. Terence Driscoll of Centre Street is unopposed for a two-year seat on the cemetery trustees.

Except where noted, the offices carry a three-year term.

Changing the town treasurer's job from elected to appointed, Question 1 on the town election ballot, was approved by a vote of 173-15 by the February special town meeting. The change has been recommended by the town government study committee and the state Department of Revenue. Only 47 communities in the state still have elected treasurers, most of them in municipalities of less than 10,000 people.

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If Galvin's turnout prediction is correct, it would be in line with the turnout for last year's town election: 31.1%.

She cited not only the the races for select board and school committee, but competition for town meeting seats in all of the town's precincts. There is no in-person early voting, and Galvin said she'd received about 370 requests for early voting ballots as of Wednesday.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the town's 10 precincts.

Reach Fred Hanson at fhanson@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Milton election will elect new school committee, select board members