Planning Board has the only contested seat in upcoming town election

By Alice Waugh

Signatures have been gathered and papers filed to decide who will be on the ballot for the town election on March 30 (see full list below). And despite an earlier flurry of interest by would-be candidates for Water Commission, the Planning Board will have the only contested race, where three residents — Lynn DeLisi, Richard Rundell, and Robert Domnitz — are running for two open seats.

Both openings on the Planning Board are for three-year terms, so the top two vote-getters will be seated. DeLisi and Rundell are incumbents running for reelection, while Domnitz is a former board member. He ran for reelection in 2015 but lost to challenge and current board member Gary Taylor, who ran unopposed for reelection in 2018.

A whopping seven residents took out papers in preparation for running for three openings on the Water Commission, which has been troubled by budget and personnel issues. However, only incumbent Ruth Ann Hendrickson, Michelle Barnes and James Hutchinson submitted papers and signatures to get on the ballot before the February 10 deadline. The others who initially took out papers were Ephraim Flint, Steven Kanner, Allen Vander Meulen, and Tobin Hack. 

Those running for the Water Commission have to declare their candidacy for a specific term. Hendrickson (who has said this will be her last term) is running unopposed for reelection for a two-yer term. Barnes joined the board in the fall as one of two emergency appointments after two of the three commissioners resigned, and she is now running for a full three-year term. Hutchinson is currently serving a seven-year term on the Finance Committee that expires in March 2021 and is resigning to run unopposed for a one-year term on the Water Commission.

No one is running for openings on the Housing Commission and Trustees of the Bemis Fund, although two residents (Deb Wallace and Victoria Benaflew) took our nomination papers but never submitted them. Anyone can write in a candidate for those seats or any other. However, if no one is elected, the group in question and the Board of Selectmen may jointly make an appointment to fill the opening at a later date.

There are two candidates for two openings on the Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee, and Lincoln resident Harold Engstrom is running for the seat being vacated by Patty Mostue, who is retiring after many years of service with that group. Candace Miller of Sudbury is running for reelection.

* Asterisks indicate incumbents

Board or Committee	Openings/terms	Candidate(s)
Board of Assessors	One for three years	Ellen Meadors*
Board of Health	One for three years	Frederick L. Mansfield*
Board of Selectmen	One for three years	Jonathan Dwyer*
Cemetery Commission	One for three years	Manley Boyce*
Commissioners of Trust Funds	One for three years	D. Paul Fitzgerald*
Housing Commission	One for three years	—
Moderator	One for three years	Sarah Cannon Holden*
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee	Two for three years	Candace Miller,* Harold Engstrom
Parks and Recreation Committee	One for three years	Robert Stringer
Planning Board	Two for three years	Richard Rundell,* Lynn DeLisi,* Robert Domnitz
School Committee	Two for three years	Tara Lynn Mitchell,* Adam Hogue*
Trustees of Bemis	One for three years	—
Water Commission	One for three years, one for two years, one for one year	Ruth Ann Hendrickson,* Michelle Barnes, James Hutchinson