{"id":96226,"date":"2024-05-02T14:00:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T14:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=96226"},"modified":"2024-05-02T14:00:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T14:00:07","slug":"holden-election-features-three-contests-two-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/05\/02\/holden-election-features-three-contests-two-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Holden election features three contests, two questions"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Ken Cleveland<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

HOLDEN \u2014 Voters will have a few contests to decide when they go to the polls on May 13, or when they send in their ballots. But questions also await their attention, including a capital exclusion and a debt exclusion, plus several nonbinding questions to get a sense of the voters.<\/p>\n

Two three-year seats on the Select Board are being sought by four candidates: Incumbents Richard Bates and Anthony Renzoni face Linda Long-Bellil and Aidan Slaten.<\/p>\n

The single seat for a Holden representative on the Wachusett Regional School District Committee is being sought by incumbent Lauren Salmon-Garrett and challenger Amy Miller.<\/p>\n

Long-Bellil is not seeking to return to the school committee as the regional school board continues to shrink the size of the committee. Instead, she has opted to run for the Select Board.<\/p>\n

There is also a race for two seats on the Trustees of Damon Memorial, the town library, for three-year terms: incumbent Alan N. DeGutiss and Richard S. Maurer, as well as Maureen L. Glodas.<\/p>\n

Other positions on the town\u2019s ballot are: Moderator, a one-year post being sought by incumbent Daniel F. Nason; and Holden Housing Authority, a five-year seat being sought by Paul Mark Steinberg.<\/p>\n

The two ballot questions would allow spending outside the Proposition 2\u00bd limits.<\/p>\n

One is for a capital expenditure exclusion to assess an additional $670,000 in real estate and personal property taxes for designing and constructing improvements to the modular classroom units at Dawson Elementary School, security enhancements at all Holden elementary schools and at Mountview Middle School, completing repairs of playgrounds located at all Holden elementary schools, designing and constructing improvements to the parking lot at the Holden Senior Center, and purchasing a new ambulance for the Fire Department.<\/p>\n

The second question is a Debt Exclusion under Prop 2\u00bd for funding a bond to design, construct and equip new athletic fields to be constructed on town-owned property at 18 Industrial Drive, and to design and construct improvements to and expand the existing athletic fields and to replace a playground area located at the Dawson Recreation Area, located at 200 Salisbury St. The funds, $2.2 million, are needed in addition to the original $5 million approved in 2022 in order to complete the work.<\/p>\n

Voters will also consider three nonbinding questions.<\/p>\n

One is a real estate tax deferral option that would allow Holden elders to defer all or a portion of their real estate tax obligation, to be repaid with interest, when their property is sold or transferred, or upon settlement of their estate.<\/p>\n

A second question would gauge whether voters would like the town to consider moving town meetings to Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Finally, a question asks if voters would consider expanding the Senior Center to meet current and future demand for senior services.<\/p>\n

Polling locations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Precincts 1 and 2: Holden Senior Center, 1130 Main St.<\/p>\n

Precincts 3 and 6: Davis Hill School, 80 Jamieson Road, use Highland Street entrance.<\/p>\n

Precincts 4 and 5: Mountview School, 270 Shrewsbury St.<\/p>\n

For more information or for mail-in voting, visit the town clerk\u2019s webpage at https:\/\/www.holdenma.gov\/town-clerk<\/a> or call 508-210-5530.<\/p>\n

A Candidate Forum is planned at the Holden Senior Center on May 6 at 7 p.m., hosted by the Wachusett Area Chamber of Commerce for candidates running for open seats on the Holden Select Board and the Wachusett Regional School District Committee. Former Town Manager Brian Bullock will serve as moderator for the evening.<\/p>\n

The event is open to the public. Holden Community Television will broadcast the forum live. The event also will be available on-demand on holdentv.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Cleveland Landmark Correspondent HOLDEN \u2014 Voters will have a few contests to decide when they go to the polls on May 13, or when they send in their ballots. But questions also await their attention, including a capital exclusion and a debt exclusion, plus several nonbinding questions to get a sense of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-politics"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}