PANTON — A longtime Waltham school director will reportedly step down, and Panton will have at least one new selectboard member in March, but little change in the ranks of Addison town officials looms on Town Meeting Day.
In Waltham, Kristin Bristow will not seek to be re-nominated from the town meeting floor to the Vergennes Union High School board, according to Addison Northwest Supervisory Union Superintendent Tom O’Brien.
Bristow has served not only on the VUHS board, but also the ANwSU board, for about a decade-and-a-half, O’Brien said, and will be sorely missed unless she has a last-minute change of heart.
“In my mind that’s a huge loss,” O’Brien said. “She’s been a huge champion of the schools and the district.”
Residents will accept nominations from the floor to replace Bristow, who could not be immediately reached before the deadline for this edition of the Independent.
Also in Waltham, the terms of Selectman Kevin Bourdon, Vergennes Union Elementary School board member Kate Martin, and Town Clerk Mary Kinson also all expire in March.
Kinson said she would seek to be nominated again, and that it was her understanding that both Bourdon and Martin also hope to retain their positions.
In Panton, Town Clerk Jean Miller said Selectman Bill Lanning’s term will expire in March and that Lanning does not plan to seek re-election. As in Waltham, Panton elects officers at town meeting, and those interested in serving on the selectboard or in other positions will seek to be nominated from the floor.
Miller said VUES board member Karrie Beebe’s term is up, and that she will probably seek to retain her seat, but Chris Cook will step away as an auditor in March, leaving an open seat there. A position on the Panton board of listers remains open after a 2012 resignation.
In Addison, where voters will cast paper ballots on March 5, selectboard incumbents Steven Torrey and Joy Pouliot filed papers and are running unopposed for three- and two-year terms, respectively.
Also unopposed are three Addison Central School board candidates: George Lawrence for a three-year term, Tim Lindenmeyr for a two-year term, and Jill Bourgeois for the balance of a term to which she was appointed in 2012.
Town Clerk Marilla Webb, who was appointed in January to replace longtime town clerk Jane Grace upon Grace’s retirement, is on the ballot for the first time — Webb is running unopposed for her position.
Andy Kirkaldy may be reached at [email protected].