Marblehead Contested Select Board, School Committee Races On Ballot

MARBLEHEAD, MA — There will be contested races for Marblehead Select Board, School Committee and a handful of other townwide elected positions — as well as the $2.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 override to level-fund services amid a structural deficit — on the June 20 annual spring election ballot.

Select Board positions are up for re-election each year in Marblehead with six people running for five positions. Moses Grader, James Nye, Jackie Belf-Becker, Alexa Singer and Erin Noonan are all candidates for re-election with former Select Board member Bret Murray running as the lone challenger.

Four candidates are running for two spots on the School Committee with former Chair Sarah Gold running as the lone incumbent. Thomas Mathers said when he was appointed as a replacement School Committee member in January that he would not run for a full term.

Paul Baker, Brian Scott Ota and Jennifer Schaeffner are challenging for the open seats.

There will also be contested races for the Board of Health, Abbot Library Board of Trustees, Municipal Light Commissioner, and Recreation and Park Commission.

The Board of Health will have three candidates vying for one position among David Becker, Thomas McMahon and Thomas Massaro.

Gary Amberik is running for re-election to the Library Board of Trustees with Katherine Barker and Rose McCarthy challenging for the two open positions.

Lisa Wolf is running for re-election for a three-year term on the Municipal Light Commission with Walter Homan challenging for the one open position. Adam Smith and Nathaniel Burke are running for the one open one-year term on the Municipal Light Commission.

Matthew Martin, Karin Ernst, Rossana Ferrante and Linda Rice Collins are running for re-election, and Sherry Bedrossian and Larry Simpson are challenging, and for the five one-year terms on the Parks & Recreation Commission.

Marblehead voters will also be asked to accept a $2.5 million property tax general override to maintain level-funded services in police, fire, public works, schools and other municipal departments after the long-discussed override number was confirmed by the Select Board and
Finance Committee at Monday night's warrant meeting and passed a vote of town meeting.

More than 70 percent of Marblehead town meeting members expressed their support for a $2.5 million general property tax override of Proposition 2 1/2 that officials said is necessary to maintain level services amid a structural deficit.

The override, which would amount to about $248 for the median single-family homeowner in a property assessed at $800,000, needs a majority vote for passage.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)