Published February 14, 2019

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — The field of potential candidates in the May 7 town election has expanded.

Earlier this week, Liane R. Gonzalez of Clover Road pulled nomination papers at the Town Clerk’s office to seek endorsements for one of two open seats on the Select Board.

Both incumbents, Chairman Michael Prisco and Select Board member Robert Mauceri, announced last month that they would not be seeking re-election this year.

Gonzalez is currently a member of the North Reading Housing Authority. She holds the state-appointed seat on that body. She was appointed on Nov. 29, 2016 by the Undersecretary of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Chrystal Kornegay. Her appointment runs through April 30, 2020.

She has run for the board once before. In the May 2016 election, Gonzalez placed third in a four-person race for the two seats then held by both Prisco and Mauceri.

In that election, in which 2,654 votes were cast representing just over 12% of the electorate, Prisco topped the ticket with 682 votes, Mauceri placed a close second with 638, Gonzalez garnered 552 votes, and the fourth candidate, Richard Wallner, tallied 474 votes. There were also 303 blanks and five write-in votes.

Gonzalez is the second person seeking a spot on the spring ballot for the Select Board. Andrew J. Lee previously pulled papers. Both seats are three-year terms.

Also pulling papers to date for other posts in the spring election have been incumbent School Committee Chairwoman Janene Imbriano seeking her third three-year term; incumbent Town Moderator John J. Murphy, seeking his 15th consecutive one-year term; and incumbent Housing Authority member James DeCola, seeking his second five-year term.

There remains one open seat on the School Committee as incumbent Melvin Webster is not seeking re-election after he finishes his current term in May.

Immediate vacancy

There is an immediate vacancy on the Community Planning Commission (CPC) following the departure of Jonathan Cody who has moved and therefore cannot complete his current three-year term.  The CPC and Select Board are currently seeking candidates for a joint appointment to be made in March to fill Cody’s seat until the election. Seats held by both Cody and long-time CPC member Warren Pearce are both up for re-election this year. Pearce has not yet announced his intentions.

 Election basics

 The deadline for all candidates to return their nomination papers to the Town Clerk’s office is Tuesday, March 19 at 5 p.m. The Town Clerk’s office will remain open an extra hour on the deadline day to accept the nomination papers.

All candidates are required to obtain a minimum of 50 signatures from town residents who are registered to vote in the town of North Reading to be eligible to be included on the ballot. Town Clerk Barbara Stats advises all candidates to submit more than the minimum number of signatures required because her office is unable to certify signatures that are “duplications, illegible or ineligible.”

Once a candidate is certified as eligible to run for an elective office, the last day that candidate can choose to withdraw his or her name from the ballot is Thursday, April 4 at 5 p.m.

The last day a resident of the town can register to vote to participate in the May 7 annual town election is Wednesday, April 17 at 8 p.m.

Elective offices for 2019

Eight seats on four boards plus the town moderator’s seat are up for election this year. The names of incumbents are listed in parentheses. An asterisk is listed beside the names of those incumbents who have announced that they will not seek re-election

• Two seats for three-year terms on the Select Board (*Robert Mauceri and *Michael Prisco);

• One seat for a one-year term for Town Moderator (John Murphy);

• Two seats for three-year terms on the School Committee (Janene Imbriano and *Melvin Webster);

• Two seats for three-year terms on the Community Planning Commission (Warren Pearce and *Jonathan Cody;

• One seat for a five-year term on the Housing Authority (James DeCola).

Candidates for any municipal office are required to file campaign finance reports on specific dates per the provisions of Mass. General Laws Chapter 55. Those with questions about this process may contact the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance for assistance by phone: 617-727-8352, email: ocpf@cpf.state.ma.us or visit the website at www.mass.gov/ocpf.

For additional assistance the public may also call the Town Clerk’s office at 978-357-5218.