<b>Selectmen</b>

In the race for selectman, two candidates are vying for the lone spot up for election.  Current selectman John Tuffy, who serves as director of business for the Silver Lake Regional School District, is seeking his third term with the board.   He will run against George Shamma of King Philips Path.  Shamma is the owner/CEO of the Most Medical Company and has been a Duxbury resident for 35 years.

In 1974, Shamma ran to fill a two-year unexpired term on the board, but finished second behind Edmund Dondero.  He is also a past chair and treasurer of the Duxbury Town Republican Committee and a member of the Duxbury Housing Authority.

<b>School Committee</b>

Town voters will also be electing two new members to the school committee.  In December, current members Carol Love and Neil Johnson announced they would not seek re-election, opening up two seats for four new candidates.

Among those running for a seat on the committee is George Cipolletti of Bailey’s Circle, who has lived in town for eight years and is running for his first elected position.  Cipolletti is an engineer with Apex Surgical in Lakeville and has a vested interest in the future of Duxbury’s schools.

“I have ten kids ñ four of whom graduated from DHS and I have a junior and freshman there now, a seventh grader, a fifth grader and a pre-schooler,” he said.  “So I expect to use the service of the school system for some time.”

Cipolletti served on the DHS Council for three years as co-chair and was also a member of the Substance Abuse Advisory Committee last spring.

Also making his first run for the school committee is Lake Shore Drive resident Ernest Nichols, a commercial truck driver for nearly four years.  Nichols, who has lived in Duxbury for six years, currently has a son in pre-school.

Current chair of the Fiscal Advisory Committee, William O’Toole will also seek election to the committee.  O’Toole has been on this committee and the town’s Finance Committee for nearly 10 years.  The Fordville Road resident is an attorney for the health care software company MEDITECH and has five children, all in the school system.

If elected, O’Toole would have to step down from his post with the Fiscal Advisory Committee.

Karen Wong, a freelance photographer with the Clipper is also making her run for the school committee.  Wong, who lives on Meeting House Road, has worked for the newspaper for three years and has three children in Duxbury schools.  She has previously served on the Alden School Council for two years, is currently co-chair of the DMS Council and been both a homeroom parent and volunteer in the classroom.

<b>Planning Board</b>

March will bring two races for seats on the Planning Board: one to fill a one-year unexpired term and another to elect two members for five-year seats with the board.

There are three candidates for the five-year seats, including incumbent George Wadsworth who has been with the board since 1983.  The Elm Street resident also currently serves on the Community Preservation Committee and the town’s Water Advisory Board.

Also seeking a more permanent role with the board is James Kimball, Jr., who was appointed to fill a short-term vacancy in January left open by the resignation of David Matthews.  Kimball, who lives on Old Barn Road, is currently vice-president for Carter and Burgess, an architectural and engineering firm in Cambridge and sits on the town’s Design Review Board. 

Oak Street resident Robert Molla is making his candidacy for the planning board his first run at elected office in town.  A five-year resident of Duxbury, Molla is the director of human relations of ADD Inc, a national architecture and interior design firm.  He is also currently a member of the Duxbury Beach Preservation Society.

There are two residents vying to fill the one-year unexpired term, both seeking their first elected positions.  King Caesar Lane resident John Bear is one of these candidates.  Bear has served as chief operating officer for CAP Ventures in Norwell for two and half years and has lived in Duxbury since 1989. 

Challenging Bear will be Steven Snyder, who has lived on and off in Duxbury for three years.  He is currently chief information officer for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

“I spent six years in the Navy in a submarine and think that might be easier than politics, but I love this town,” said Snyder.

<b>Town Clerk</b>

Town Clerk Nancy Oates has served Duxbury in this role for 21 years and is seeking her eighth term.  The Puritan Way resident has lived in Duxbury for over 30 years and is a former teacher and served as owner and director for the Snug Harbor Nursery School.

Running against Oates is her former assistant, Mary Moe McCarron.  McCarron worked as assistant town clerk under Oates for five and a half years and has worked as an administrative clerk in the assessor’s office for two years.  The 32-year resident of Duxbury is seeking her first elected position and is currently involved with the Friends of the Duxbury Free Library.

McCarron said her motivation to run against the veteran Oates is to give voters a choice.

“They will have an option for change and if they want, they will vote for me and if they are happy, they will stay with the incumbent,” she said.

<b>Board of Assessors</b>

Voters will have two new choices for a three-year seat on the town’s Board of Assessors, with news last December that Neal Merry would not seek re-election to the group after 30 years of service.

There are two candidates looking to bring their experience to the board, including Tobey Garden Street resident James MacNab.  MacNab is a life-long resident of Duxbury and a licensed general contractor specializing in remodeling and historical renovations.  He is the owner of Tinkertown Construction and is currently the co-chairman of the Fourth of July Committee.  He is also the husband of current planning board member Amy MacNab.

Opposing MacNab in March will be Oak Street resident Richard Lane Partridge.  Partridge has been director of assessing in the town of Hingham for five years and a Duxbury resident since 1991.  He said he was encouraged to run for the spot by Merry, who he got to know through assessing and said that his current occupation would not impinge on his time if elected.

<b>Library Trustees</b>

The race for two seats on the library trustees includes two incumbents and two citizens seeking their first terms with the group.  Stockade Path resident Theodore Flynn is seeking his third term with the trustees and has over 25 years of active civic and professional involvement in town, including six years with the school committee.

Also seeking re-election is Nancy Delano of Old Cordwood Path, a Duxbury resident for 54 years who is pursuing her second term with the trustees. She was a key part in the incorporation of the Delano Kindred, Inc., a genealogical society for Delano descendants.

Also seeking a position with the trustees is Arthur Evans, a 37-year town resident.  Evans is currently retired after spending 41 years in book publishing, including four years as director of the University of Pennsylvania Press and over 12 years as director of the Wayne State University Press.

Franklin Street resident Nancy Rose Noble will also be seeking votes to join the trustees in March.  Rose Noble has been a corporate trainer for 25 years and a Duxbury resident for nine years.  She is also a weekly volunteer at Jordan Hospital and involved with both the North River and Duxbury Art Associations. 

<b>Housing Authority</b>

There are two candidates running to fill a single seat for an unexpired term of two years. The seat was left vacant by the resignation of current member Dianne Bartlett, who will step down on March 20.

Elm Street resident John Griffin is one of the candidates.  Griffin works as a consultant for marketing and sales and has lived in Duxbury for 22 years.

The other candidate is Elizabeth LaForest of West Street, who has been director of training and development for the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission for five years.  LaForest has lived in Duxbury for five and a half years and this is her first involvement in town politics.

In the town’s only uncontested race, Allen Bornheimer is seeking another one-year term as the town moderator’s with 21 years of experience in this role.

All candidates have until February 25 to withdraw their nomination papers for the March elections.