Four vie for two selectman seats in Milford

MILFORD – Four candidates, including two former selectmen and a former town clerk, are running for two open seats on the Board of Selectmen.

Voters will decide Tuesday whether Michael Bond, Dawn Cyr, William “Toby” Martin or Francis Richard will be elected to three-year terms.

Doris Seger and Rep. Anita Haskell, R-Milford, are not seeking re-election to the five-member board. Seger hopes to join the town planning board. Haskell announced that she would not seek re-election last November when she narrowly won a seat in the Legislature.

Over the past 18 months the town has been rocked with turmoil, including the virtual shutdown in April of its largest employer, the Costigan Stud Mill, owned by International Paper Co.

The previous year, between February and June, the town manager, town treasurer and Town Clerk Dawn Cyr resigned. In May 2000, the town was audited by two state agencies after inspectors found Milford’s financial records in disarray.

The public expressed frustration with the board last month at a special town meeting, but agreed to a selectmen’s request to move $2,000 from surplus to pay cost overruns in legal fees. Voters also agreed to move $25,000 from surplus to pay unbudgeted expenses connected with the 1999 and 2000 audits. The audit for 2000 still has not been completed.

Both Cyr and Richard pointed to excess audit costs as one of their reasons for running. Cyr was born and raised in Milford and worked in the town office for 12 years. She also served on the school board for three years. Richard, a 25-year resident of the town and a retiree, served on the Board of Selectmen for four years in the early 1990s.

“Things have been going on in town that I’m not happy with,” he said of his reason for running. “The board overdrafted the budget to pay for the audit. The people voted to do things at town meeting, like road repairs, and they haven’t been done. We should give the town back to the people and let them run it.”

Cyr, who now works for an Old Town firm, cited the extra expense for audits as an example of needless spending by the board at a time when “we must watch every penny, spend very carefully.” She added that she would like to be involved in getting a summer recreation program going again and see the school committee and Board of Selectmen work together more closely.

“One of the most important issues facing Milford is the closing of the stud mill,” she said. “Not only was it one of the town’s largest taxpayers, but many Milford people were employed at the mill.”

Martin, who owns a construction firm in town, described himself as “a new face” who has lived in Milford a dozen years. While he’s been active in the Elks Club, he has not run for public office before.

“There’s enough old faces around. I think it’s time for a change,” he said. “I think the toughest issue the town’s facing is the loss of the stud mill. It looks like our tax base is going to be in trouble.”

A year ago, Bond was serving as board chairman and completing his first term when he lost his re-election bid to Thomas Hildreth. An elementary school teacher in Bangor, he said that he is running to complete some of the projects he was working on last year, such as revamping the recreation program, and obtaining grants for housing, road projects and flood prevention.

“I enjoyed my time on the board,” he said. “I enjoyed being able to help people and provide assistance to people in need.”

Andrea Bickford and Donald Smith are unopposed in their bids for re-election to the school board. Both are seeking their first full terms after being appointed to replace board members who resigned.

Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the municipal building. The annual town meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, at Lewis Libby School.