Freedom — March 5, 2012 — Some years it’s nearly impossible to fill all of the elected positions in town and school government. This is not one of those years as local races heat up with several people competing for a few prime seats.

In Ossipee, 24 people have signed up to the be on the ballot here, including five who are seekingelection to the three-year selectman’s position – Leonard Shurtleff, Roy Barron, Augie Benson, Robert Freeman, and Francis Lord. Six people will be vying for two budget committee seats – Belinda Cullen,David Babson, Jr., James Fitzpatrick, David Helme, Kevin Houle, and Bruce Williams.

Moderator Katy Meserve and Treasurer Natalie Hall are both seeking re-election and running unopposed.Condict “Connie” Billings is the sole candidate for Trustee of Trust Funds and Jane Goodwin is running unopposed for the Supervisor of the Checklist position. Raymond Wright and Aline Wilson are running fortwo of the three open library trustee positions.

Robert Gillette and Roy Barron will compete for one open planning board seat while C.J. “Ski” Kwiatkowski will be trying to unseat longtime incumbent water/sewer commissioner Randy Lyman. Jean Simpson and Leonard Shurtleff are running unopposed for two open planning board seats.

Ossipee’s Election Day is March 13.

In Freedom, two former selectmen as well as a current one will be vying for a three-year seat on the Board of Selectmen. Incumbent Neal Boyle, John Krebs, and James Brown have all filed for this seat.
Laura Robinson is seeking election as a library trustee; Carol Stansell as supervisor of the checklist;Kim Reis as trustee of trust funds; Peter Park and Janet Meyers for two open planning board positions;and Don Johnson will be seeking re-election as the town’s moderator.

Steve Jones, II and Brett Taylor are vying for the three-year school board member position while Carol Stansell and Brandon Knox will compete for the one-year school board position. Don Johnson is seeking re-election as the school district moderator and Dianne Park as the clerk. Michael Gaudette is running for auditor

In Effingham, it’s a three-way race for the three-year selectmen’s seat as Henry Spencer and RonnieWitham will be vying for the seat in hopes of unseating 12-year selectman John Meisner.
Town clerk/tax collector Marilyn Maughan and Treasurer Laurie Caldwell will be running unopposed seeking re-election to their positions. Three candidates, George Bull, Michael Cahalane and Paul Potter, will be seeking election to two planning board seats.

Celine Bergeron and Carol Pfister are vying for two open library trustee positions, Kate Cauble unopposed for trustee of trust funds, and Tim Eldridge and Michael Cauble are running unopposed forbudget committee seats. There are no candidates for open positions of  cemetery trustee, supervisorof the checklist, or one-year budget committee member. As with all positions, voters can write in the name of any person that is not on the ballot.