Tisbury April 30 town election lacks FinCom candidates

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Tisbury voting will take place at the new emergency services facility at 215 Spring Street on Tuesday, for the first time. The April 30 town elections will be held the same day as the state primary for the 2013 U.S. Senate special election to replace Senator John Kerry. Polls will be open from 7 am to 8 pm.

There are no contests among Tisbury’s candidates for office. Longtime Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel runs unopposed for his seventh term.

Denys Wortman, a former Tisbury selectman, is running as a new candidate for a three-year position on the board of public works (BPW). Incumbent Fred Thifault did not seek reelection.

Longtime incumbent planning board member Henry Stephenson seeks reelection to a five-year term.

Ian Aitchison, Karen Ann Casper, and James H. K. Norton are seeking reelection to three-year library trustee positions.

Assessor Angela A. Cywinski, board of health member Michael Loberg, Tisbury School Committee member Colleen McAndrews, and water commissioner Elmer H. Silva, Jr., are incumbents running unopposed.

The town’s finance and advisory committee (FinCom) badly needs candidates. With five members currently serving on the 11-member committee, there are six seats to fill. A large number of vacancies on the board may make it difficult for the FinCom to achieve the required six-member quorum for meetings, chairman Larry Gomez said.

New candidate Benjamin B. Waldrop and incumbent Bruce Lewellyn are seeking election to three-year seats. That still leaves two three-year seats open, as well as two two-year seats.

Assuming Mr. Wortman gives up his seat on the FinCom if elected to the BPW, town clerk Marion Mudge said the Tisbury selectmen would appoint someone to fill his seat until the 2014 election.

Ms. Mudge said anyone interested in serving on the FinCom could run for one of the open seats as a write-in candidate. She would appreciate being notified by any potential write-in candidates so that she knows who they are, which helps in deciphering people’s ballots, she added.

“It’s an hour and a half meeting, with roughly 17 or 18 meetings for the whole year, and the bulk of them are between November and April,” Mr. Gomez said. “Our purview is primarily to look at the budget, make recommendations to the selectmen, and review and make recommendations on articles that are voted on at town meeting.”

For more information, call Mr. Gomez at 508-693-6150.

The ballot also includes one Proposition 2.5 question that asks voters to fund construction of a connector road between State and Edgartown-Vineyard Haven roads. The question’s outcome was made moot by voters’ rejection of a corresponding warrant article at town meeting on April 10.