Wiscasset residents have five candidates to choose from for three seats up for election to the board of selectmen on June 10. None would be newcomers to the board: Two are incumbents; the other three are former selectmen.

William Barnes

William Barnes has previously served as a Wiscasset selectman and planning board member. He is currently on the town's budget committee.

One of the two biggest reasons the 70-year-old, lifelong Wiscasset resident wants to get back onto the board of selectmen is because the board this year went back to deciding the budget at a town meeting, instead of at the polls.

“People are losing their right to vote,”  Barnes said.

 The other main reason the former hay and cattle farmer cited for running is an interest in exploring the idea of some of the town's departments becoming self-sufficient rather than relying on tax dollars. “It needs to be researched,” he said.

Barnes was Guilford Transportation’s last foreman on the railroad in town and now co-owns Mike’s Log Cabin.

Asked about economic development, Barnes said: “It's going to be quite a job to get anyone to come in here and do anything until someone does something about the taxes.”

Barnes said he sees Mason Station as a location with a lot of potential for re-use. “That probably is as valuable a piece of property as there is in this town, and it's too bad for it to be sitting there idle.”

As a selectman, he will continue with the openness residents have come to expect from him, he said. “What they see is what they are going to get ... just the same as I am now.

“I want to do the best job I can for the taxpayers in this town.”

Barnes said he would also encourage more people to participate in selectmen’s meetings. “A lot of people in town have good ideas, and they should bring forth their ideas,” he said.

Judith Colby

Selectman Judith Colby is seeking her third term on the board. She formerly served on the budget committee and, back in the 1980s, on the school board.

“I have no hidden agenda,” Colby said when asked why she would like to stay on the board. “It would be whatever the people want done. I always try to put their thoughts first.”

The board has made progress in many areas and she wants to continue that work, she said. Efforts will continue regarding the Bath Road Master Plan, Mason Station and the waterfront, she said.

Colby favors focusing on routes 1 and 27 for economic development. “We have a lot of property (on those) that we should get people interested in ... Keep the village a village,” she said.

“I see opportunities for this town. I don't want it to become a Brunswick or a big metropolis. I want it to be a small town, but with good economic development to support our town and what we need.”

But first townspeople need to agree on what they want for growth, Colby said. “Wiscasset's problem with economic development is that everybody's not on the same page.”

She would like to see residents become motivated to take part in town business. “We may not always agree, but at least your view is heard, and to me that's important.”

In her next term, she would like the selectmen to work closely with the school committee to make sure the children of Wiscasset have the best possible education the town can give them, she said.

“At the same time, we have to keep our taxes down as best we can. I feel the select board and the school board need to work together on this as a united front for the people of Wiscasset.”

David Nichols

There is a lot of work that needs to be done, and there's only one way to get it all done and that's together, said board of selectmen candidate David Nichols.

Nichols, 75, has served on the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen three times before, and would like to again be voted in on June 10.

Nichols, who is currently retired, said there are many things ailing Wiscasset, but in-fighting won't solve anything; instead, the board needs to work together to ease a rising property tax, a school district in flux, and a shrinking tax base.

“There will be no economic development if we don't fix our schools,” Nichols said. “When employers are looking for a town, they look at the schools, they look at the taxes. If we don't fix our schools, we won't be attractive to (a prospective business).”

Nichols, who is a Wiscasset native, said he looks forward to a chance to be on the board for the fourth time since 2006.

“It's a chance to do something for the town,” he said. “You know the old saying saying 'There's no I in team.' This is an opportunity to work with the (other selectmen) to fix things.”

Nichols said he was part of a board that implemented the secret ballot town meeting format, and he is opposed to the new, open-style town meeting.

“What happens when you have to sit next to your neighbor, or your friend, and he works for the town and you have to decide his salary?” he said.

To help clarify the school situation, and to reduce costs, Nichols advocates closing the middle school building and consolidating.

“It has to be brought up now — I know a lot of people don't want to hear it, but changes have to be made,” he said. “We have to keep moving forward.”

In terms of the Mason Station, Nichols said the town should do anything it can to get the station off the books.

“The liabilities exceed the assessed value,” he said. “I'd just give it away; the town can't afford to keep it.”

Benjamin Rines Jr.

Benjamin Rines Jr. is seeking to return to the board after serving as a selectman five times since 1976. He also served four years on the budget committee in the 1970s, and formerly represented Wiscasset, Alna, Whitefield, Windsor and Somerville in the Maine House of Representatives.

Retired from Bath Iron Works after 35 years as a welder, Rines said he has the time, interest and background to serve on the board.

“I've been out for a while so it seems kind of fresh now, so why not,” he said. “The people of the town have been very good to me over the years. I enjoy serving,” he added.

The 61-year-old Wiscasset native said the next year will be incredibly tough due to higher taxes. “We're going to have to be extremely careful.”

The board needs to be cautious in its handling of Mason Station, in order to avoid potential liability issues, Rines said. He would also be careful with economic development as a whole.

“I would be awfully cautious about it. The town has spent a lot and gotten awfully little in return,” he said.

Rines would like to see the board talk issues out more with residents who speak in the public comment portion of meetings, and he would like the board to start meeting weekly. (Selectmen meet the first and third Tuesdays of the month, and at other times as needed.)

“Every two weeks is not enough for the people to come in and express their opinions,” Rines said. “The board is simply too removed from the people (and) could be more user-friendly. There should be a little more give and take.”

However, Rines said the board has done better this budget season at including the budget committee in its discussions. “I have to say I'm very impressed.”

Jefferson Slack

First-term Selectman Jefferson Slack is seeking to make it two. “I just have a few things that I would like to see finished,” Slack said about why he's running for reelection.

Slack served as the selectmen's representative on the town's committee that worked out a withdrawal deal with Regional School Unit 12. By continuing with the board, he could use his knowledge of the withdrawal process to help with the transition, he said.

The 48-year-old said he also would really like to see a good conclusion to the ongoing issues with Mason Station and Ferry Road Development, he said.

“I really want to see us be able to collect those back taxes that are owed,” said Slack, a financial counselor for MaineHealth. The board has been pursuing those, very aggressively, he said.

Skowhegan-born and Hallowell-raised, Slack has lived in Wiscasset since 1988. He volunteers at the Wiscasset Community Center, where he officiates at youth basketball games and umpires Little League baseball games; he's also a past assistant to a junior varsity basketball coach at Wiscasset High School.

Asked about his attributes that serve him as a selectman, Slack said: “I work well with a bunch of different ideas, not only my own, but listening to other ideas and forming a consensus, and doing team-building.

“I feel like I bring a really good ability to communicate,” he continued. “I like to find the solution. I don't need to be the answer, but I do like to be a part of it.”

Economic expansion should continue to be sought along the Route 1 corridor, he said. The Bath Road Master Plan will help increase the corridor's appeal to businesses, Slack said.

“We're going to start implementing it over the next couple of years ... That is front and center,” he said.