HAWLEY — Assistant Fire Chief Robert Root is seeking the open Selectboard seat in Monday’s annual town election. He is one of several unopposed candidates seeking office.
The polls will be open Monday, May 1, from 11:45 a.m. until 7 p.m. in the Town Office, at 8 Pudding Hollow Road.
Root — who is running for the three-year term held by John Sears — has lived in town for 17 years and has been a firefighter for many of them.
Root, now 76, says he has been striving to get the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to rebuild the roads that were washed out during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. He said access through the state forest land is crucial for first-responders.
As a member of the Sons & Daughters of Hawley, Root is groundskeeper of the 1846 Meetinghouse. “I’m retired, but I feel my forefathers paid the price so I can live the good life — and I would like to pass that on to younger generations.”
Besides Root, the following incumbents are running on the election ballot for three-year terms: Town Clerk Pamela Shrimpton; Board of Assessors Rick Kean, Hawlemont School Committee Sally Rich.
No one is on the ballot for the Mohawk Trail Regional School District Committee seat, a three-year term, that was vacated by Kirby “Lark” Thwing. There are also open one-year terms for town moderator, currently held by Thwing, and for town auditor, which is now held by Carla Clark.