A special election scheduled for June 11 in Pittston will determine who will fill the vacant seat on the Board of Selectmen.

Jane Hubert, 72, and Fred Kimball, 72, both have a history of contributing to town government and both say they want Pittston’s money to be spent wisely. They are running to serve the balance of the term of Roger Linton, who resigned from the board earlier this year.

Hubert, who was a teacher in the Gardiner-area school district for 33 years, 28 of them at the elementary school in Pittston, stepped down from the board in 2016 after the death of her husband. Since then she has remained active in town affairs, being elected to the Budget, Personnel and Recycling committees, as well as to the School Administrative District 11 board.

“I always enjoyed working with the community. I have a high interest and I am ready to go back into it,” she said.

Kimball said he’s running for two reasons. One is that he’s contributed in just about every town where he’s lived since he was teen and he now has time to do the same in Pittston, and the other, he said, is that he has the business background and management experience that Pittston needs.

“Having run a small business for 28 years, I have my fingers in all functions — marketing, sales, accounting, legal, contracts, requests for proposals,” he said. “That, in conjunction with my interest in technology and software needs, can bring a perspective to town leadership board that every town needs in some form or another.”

He served on a number of committees in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, including six years on the Finance Committee, with three years as chairman; as liaison to the Select Board and treasurer; on the Capital Prioritization Committee for three years; and on the Software Vendor Selection Committee, as its chief. He was a lieutenant in a volunteer fire department. In addition, he was president of a 20-lot neighborhood association for nine years; and as co-chairman of a fundraising committee for a community playground, he helped raise $62,000 in private money.

Huber, who has been board chairwoman, including during times of upheaval that invloved vacancies in the office staff and unbudgeted expenses, said she’s interested in promoting community activity in conjunction with some town property that has been identified for possible recreational development.

“Community is very important, that we know each other, work with each other and get along with each other, and disagree with each other but still work with each other,” she said. “Pittston is a comparatively small community, and we need to know each other. And knowing each other, I think we can work together and get things accomplished.”

Kimball said he’s had extensive experience in in developing, monitoring and managing large contracts for major corporations and he knows the kinds of things that ought to be in a request for proposals, which is the first step in having a contract. Having the terms and conditions spelled out up front in them makes managing those services easier, he said.

Both candidates say they want to get value for the money that town officials spend to meet the town’s needs, but cutting for the sake of cutting isn’t good policy.

“Sometimes I wish people were more involved with the Select Board meetings to know where the money is going,” Hubert said. “At the Town Meeting, doe they know how it’s truly being spent? Even with the school budget, do they know what the salaries are? Do we know what we’re putting out for roads, recycling, and improvements to our facilities?”

Kimball attends Town Meetings and prepares for them by reviewing the warrants. No matter how experienced he is, he said, there would a learning process in establishing budget priorities for Pittston.

He’s not against spending, but he wants to get value for those dollars to meet town needs, he said. Several years ago, the Town Meeting warrant included an article for fixing the town roof. Even though employees were sitting next to 5-gallon buckets to catch the water, some voters opposed spending the money to make the repairs.

“If you can’t save the average taxpayer the cost of a dinner out a year, then what’s the point? ” he said. “Why argue over things that will save me $1.50 on my taxes?”

Outside of her service on four boards, Hubert said she’s active in the East Pittston United Methodist Church and cheers her grandsons on at athletic events.

Kimball, a widower, has two adult daughters living in the Portland area. He said he thought long and hard before taking out nomination papers, and if elected, that will push him into semi-retirement so he can devote time to serving the town.

“I have the heart and the time to make a contribution to this town,” he said.

“I feel as though I am open to people, and I do know a lot of people personally in town,” Hubert said, noting that because she taught in town for so many years, many of her students are now voters in town.

“They know me well enough that they can call me at home or stop me in the store and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on?'” she said.

Hubert said if she’s elected, she will step down from her other positions, except that she still would attend Recycling Committee meetings — but not as a board member — because she’s interested in innovations in the industry.

Voting is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. June 11 in at the Town Office, on Whitefield Road.

 

Copy the Story Link