Contested races for Selectmen, SC

Published in the April 28, 2016 edition

By BOB TUROSZ

NORTH READING – Contested races in North Reading’s annual town elections have become increasingly rare in recent years, but the ballot in next Tuesday’s balloting, May 3, is a two-for, with competition for both the Board of Selectmen and School Committee. In fact, of the 10 candidates listed on next week’s ballot, only three are running unopposed.

There are four candidates for two seats up for renewal on the Board of Selectmen. Incumbents Robert Mauceri and Michael Prisco are both seeking re-election to three year seats and face challenges from Liane Gonzalez and Richard Wallner, neither of whom have run for local office before. Wallner is a member of the town’s Economic Development Commission.

There’s also a contested race for School Committee, with incumbents Janene Imbriano and Mel Webster seeking re-election. Imbriano is finishing up her first term on the school board and Webster has served several terms. The challenger is Laina Simone, who was recently featured in a Boston Globe story as one of the grass–roots activists seeking to scrap the Common Core educational standards in Massachusetts.

Three other candidates on the town ballot are unopposed:

• John Murphy, running for re-election to a one year term as Town Moderator.

• Warren Pearce, running for re-election to a three year seat on the Community Planning Commission.

• Jonathan Cody, also seeking election to the CPC. Cody is running to fill the seat held for 23 years by Patricia Romeo, who decided not to seek re-election in 2016.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and there are slightly over 10,000 voters eligible to participate.

All voters will cast ballots in the parish hall of St. Theresa Church on Winter Street, Route 62.

Election day parking: Parking should be plentiful, but voters are requested to park only in the east side church parking lot, closest to the parish hall entrance. The west side lot closest to the rectory should not be used by voters so the church and parishioners can have sufficient parking and access to the rectory.

Handicapped parking is located on the west side, directly adjacent to the parish hall.