If you’re interested in running for Town Office, the window opens tomorrow to pull nomination papers. Potential candidates can pull papers from Wednesday, February 14th through Friday, March 22nd. The deadline to file papers with enough signatures* is 5:00 pm on Monday, March 26th.
This year, the following seats will be up for grabs in the May election. (Unless otherwise specified, each have one seat available):
- Assabet Valley Regional Vocational District School Committee – 4 year term
- Board of Assessors – 3 year term
- Board of Commissioners of Trust Funds – 3 year term
- Board of Health – 3 year term
- Board of Trustees Southborough Library – vote for two – 3 year term
- Moderator – 1 year term
- Housing Authority – 3 year term
- Northborough-Southborough Regional School Committee – Southborough candidates – vote for two – 3 year term**
- Planning Board – 5 year term
- Select Board – 3 year term
- Southborough School Committee – 3 year term
I haven’t heard yet if anyone has announced they won’t be running for re-election. So, those who choose to run may be up against the following incumbents whose terms are expiring this spring:
- Assabet Valley Regional Vocational District School Committee – Mark Pietrewicz
- Board of Assessors – Heath Widdiss
- Board of Commissioners of Trust Funds – Susan Delarda-Wood
- Board of Health – Chelsea Malinowski
- Board of Trustees Southborough Library – David Ekberg & Kimberly Regan
- Moderator – Paul Cimino
- Housing Authority – Nancy Morris
- Northborough-Southborough Regional School Committee – Kathleen Harragan Polutchko & Cathy Kea
- Planning Board – Marnie Hoolahan
- Select Board – Andrew Dennington
- Southborough School Committee – Kamali O’Meally & Jennifer Primack
As always, I’ll update you if races start to brew or if it appears we’re in danger of ending up with a vacancy.
In the meantime, if you want to keep tabs on who has pulled or filed papers you can look to see if there is an update on the Town Clerk’s election page here.
For readers just interested in voting, make sure you’re registered by March 13th. And save the date to vote on May 14th between 6:30 am – 8:00 pm at Trottier Middle School. (Or apply far enough in advance to vote by mail.)
If you have questions about the responsibilities for each board, you can find information here. For many of the boards/committees, you can also view/stream their recent meetings. (For details on viewing options, see my notes at the bottom of my regular Week in Government post.)
If you need a reminder about voting details for the upcoming Presidential Primary, you can find that here.
*Based on the formula, until the next Gubernatorial election, the minimum number of registered Southborough voters’ signatures is technically 48. But the Town Clerk’s office always advises to get at least 60, in case there is an issue with any names/addresses not matching the registration list.
**There are also Northborough seats available on the Regional School Committee, but obviously Southborough residents can’t run for that.
Updated (2/14/23 7:50 am): The Town Clerk updated that the Assabet school committee member’s term should have been listed as 4 years instead of 3.
