TOPSHAM — With nomination papers available Aug. 13 for the Board of Selectmen and School Administrative District 75 Board of Directors elections, some board members are undecided about whether to seek re-election.

David Douglass confirmed via email July 28 that he plans to seek a second term on the Board of Selectmen. Ronald Riendeau, whose seat is also up for re-election, said July 29 that he hasn’t decided whether to run again.

Douglass has lived in Topsham for 13 years. He was a firefighter-emergency medical technician with the Brunswick Fire Department from 1996-2006, and a captain with the Topsham Fire Department from 1998-2004. He has worked in sales and marketing with the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. since 2006.

Riendeau has lived in Topsham almost his entire life, and he and his wife have run Riendeau Auction Service for more than 30 years. He has served most of five terms on the Board of Selectmen, sometimes as its chairman.

Riendeau worked for the Police Department for about 20 years and from 1964 to 1978 was police chief. Before that he was in the U.S. Army from 1959-1961.

Ruth Lyons – who retired June 30 as longtime town clerk and deputy tax collector and was named clerk of the year last year by the Maine Town & City Clerks Association – has said she plans to run this fall for the Board of Selectmen.

The three-year School Board seats occupied by James Conners, Jane Scease and Jeffrey Wolkens are also becoming available. Conners and Scease said in late July that they had not yet decided whether to run, while Wolkens said he planned to seek another term.

Conners and Wolkens are concluding their first terms on the board, while Scease is wrapping up her second.

Conners, who has lived in Topsham for nearly 30 years, taught vocational building construction at Lewiston Regional Technical Center for 21 years before retiring. Prior to that, he taught at Lisbon High School and was a carpenter. He also taught night school at Maine Region 10 Technical High School in Brunswick, which serves students from Brunswick, SAD 75 and Freeport.

Wolkens has lived in Topsham for 14 years and has worked in inventory control at Staples in Brunswick. He has served as a Sunday school superintendent with the East Brunswick Baptist Church, and has been active in the Sagadahoc County Republican Committee.

Scease was a medical social worker for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Maine, Texas and Washington for 30 years before retirement. She moved to Topsham in 1998 and was on the Board of Selectmen from 2001-2007.

Scease has been Sagadahoc County treasurer since last fall, and has served on the Topsham Housing Authority, the Greater Brunswick Housing Corp. board and with MaineShare, a group of more than 30 Maine nonprofits that joined to raise funds and awareness about their work.

Nomination papers must be returned to the town clerk by the close of business on Sept. 22.

Alex Lear can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.

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