More than a dozen town offices are up for election next week, but not a single one features a contested race. The 2001 Town Meeting will take place between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the New Castle Recreation Center at the Great Island Common.
Most candidates running unopposed are incumbents.
They include Bob Beecher for selectman, William Marshall III for treasurer, Pam Cullen for tax collector, Otto Grote for budget committee, Paula Carroll for library trustee, Reginald Whitehouse for fire ward, Jennifer Schwartz for School Board, Wayne Semprini for School District moderator, Carol Allen for school treasurer and Henry Bedford for trustee of trust funds. Bedford is also seeking a three-year term on the New Castle Public Library Board of Trustees, while Willard Gleason is poised to take over Bedford's seat as town clerk. Other new candidates include David Merrill for cemetery trustee and Carol Bennett for supervisor of the checklist. The overall lack of competition is best exemplified in the election for School Board clerk, where not a single resident has signed up to replace Becky Wooley, who is completing her third year in that position. Superintendent George Cushing, who oversees School Administrative Unit 50, said whoever collects the most write-in votes would become the new School District clerk, responsible for recording the minutes at New Castle School Board meetings.