NORTHFIELD — A Selectboard race will be the only contest in the May 17 election.
The candidates are former Selectman Jack Spanbauer and Heath Cummings, who formerly worked as the school police officer at Pioneer Valley Regional School. The term is three years.
The contested seat has been held by Julia Blyth for the last three years. She did not seek nomination this time, explaining that she wanted to prioritize her time differently.
Jack Spanbauer has served on the Selectboard for about 16 years since 2000, having taken a few years off at times for different reasons, he said. Most recently he was on the board until May 2018, but did not run for re-election last year for health reasons and because of disagreements with the town administration policy at the time, he said.
Spanbauer is now on the Business Park Committee. Previously he was on the Finance Committee and several special purpose committees, including the Master Plan Committee, he said.
“I thought I’d offer my experience to serve the town again,” Spanbauer said. He did not cite a more particular reason for his interest in the position, saying that he has “no concerns or complaints” about the current Selectboard.
Heath Cummings has lived in Northfield for seven years, he said. Starting in September 2017, he worked for the Northfield Police Department as the resource officer at Pioneer Valley Regional School. He resigned in October 2018, and now works for the Gill-Montague Regional School District as the facilities and energy director.
Cummings grew up in Erving, and worked for the Erving Police Department for 17 years before joining the Northfield department in 2017.
“I saw how the town works from the inside out,” Cummings said of his time with the Northfield Police Department. “I saw a lot of room for improvement, and how my skills can be used for those improvements.”
Specifically, he cited “turmoil” in Town Hall, and said that his professional experience as a team-builder could bring more cohesion to the town’s government.
The other 15 positions on the ballot are uncontested. All terms are for three years, except for the Planning Board term, which is five years.
■One assessor — Robert MacEwan
■Two Board of Health members — Philip Baker, FloreSadri
■Two library trustees — Margot Fleck, Deborah Potee
■One Planning Board member — Richard Fitzgerald
■Two Recreation Commission members — Theresa Quinn-Tsipenyuk, Joseph Stacy
■Four constables — David Brassor, Fredd Fuller, Albert Stone, John Ware
■One Sewer Commission member — Dan Gray
■One Veterans Memorial trustee (veteran) — Francis Froment
■One Veterans Memorial trustee (non-veteran) — Raymond Zukowski.
New candidates can also be nominated by petition. Nomination papers are available at the Town Clerk’s Office, and must be returned to the Town Clerk’s Office by 5 p.m. on Friday. A petition requires 20 signatures of Northfield voters. Town Clerk Dan Campbell recommends more than 20, in case any signatures cannot be verified.