BLANDFORD – Blandford voters will go to the polls Thursday for a special election to fill a vacant seat on the town’s Board of Selectmen.
The seat became open late last summer with the death of the chairman of the board, Theodore Jensen.
The two candidates for the seat, Mick Brennan and Dale Miller, are both currently members of the towns Finance Committee.
Miller said that she has lived in the town for 14 years and sees the town’s finances as the most pressing problem to be addressed.
Miller, who is retired, said that she has volunteered in the town hall for the last three years and said she formed a “brainstorming” group of volunteers to help the town’s tax collector reduce the large number of delinquent properties on the town’s tax rolls.
She said that she looks forward to working with the other two selectmen and the town’s finance committee to make the town “work in the black rather than in the red.”
Miller said that she believes the workers in Town Hall are “really good people” who can find “creative ways” to get the town’s finances back under control.
“I believe we need to get of house in order” she said, adding “Blandford is a jewel just waiting to shine.”
The other candidate, Mick Brennan, said in a campaign letter that he has lived in the town for almost ten years and says that the town has “A real need for qualified, experienced, financial management.”
He says that he is retired from his 37-year banking career and cites his legal training while promising to be “an independent and unbiased voice who will address matters that are pertinent to the business of the town and the best interests of the residents.”
Brennan said that he believes that there are a lot of good people working for the town who do not have the financial training need to do the job well and he may be able to help.
“We have a lot of good solid citizens trying to do a job they’re not trained for and it’s not getting done well” he said.
He said that the town’s accounts are audited every year by a well qualified team of auditors who give town officials specific things to fix but they don’t get done because the workers don’t have the training needed to execute the suggestions.
“The entire system needs to be tightened up” he said and said that the workers are willing. He said his experience can be used to show them how things should be done.
Although Miller looks forward to joining the Board of Selectmen she called Brennan “also a good candidate” and said “The town really wins in this election.”
The selectman’s position is the only race on the ballot. The polls will be open in the gymnasium of the Town Hall (formerly the Granville Elementary School) on Russell Stage Road from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.
