MADISON -- Three candidates will be on the ballot for two positions on the Madison Board of Selectmen in annual town meeting voting Tuesday

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the town office on Weston Avenue.

The annual business meeting and voting on the 32-article town warrant are Monday at 7 p.m. at the Madison Junior High School auditorium.

Incumbent Selectman Keith W. Blackwell is seeking a second term on the five-member board for a three-year .

Blackwell is being challenged by Bruce E. Bristow Jr., 38, of Weston Avenue and retired former Somerset County Chief Deputy Ronald A. Moody, 61, of White School House Road.

Incumbent Selectman Leo Demchak, whose term expires this year, declined to seek re-election.

Blackwell, 69, whose family settled the Madison area with a land grant after the Revolutionary War, is finishing his first term of office on the board. He previously served a two-year term on the Madison Planning Board.

A longtime sales representative for farming and logging equipment now in semi-retirement, Blackwell said he wants to continue serving the town during relatively good economic times for Madison.

"Madison is going through a real positive time and it's kind of exciting to be part of it," he said. "Backyard Farms has come to town, we're spending a lot of energy working on our Main Street --several town improvements have taken place and the people of the town are very willing for them to happen and that's fun to be involved in that."

Blackwell said he likes the history of Madison and that his father was a selectman before him.

"I'm for progress for Madison," he said. "I have the best interest of the town at heart and years of tradition to stick up for."

Bristow and Moody both serve on the influential Madison Advisory Board.

Moody is in Canada hunting this week and could not be contacted for comment on his candidacy.

His wife Sally Moody said her husband served on the Madison Board of Selectmen for two terms in the early 2000s. Ronald Moody was chief deputy for 10 years under Sheriff Barry DeLong and before that served for 23 years with Maine State Police, retiring as a firearms specialist and instructor for the state.

"He has the time now," Sally Moody said of her husband's reason for running for office. "He got done before because he was too busy for the county. A lot of people approached him to run again, so he's going to."

Bristow, who is a service manager and system designer for Bob's Cash Fuel, also has a connection with the sheriff's department, where his father Bruce Bristow Sr. is a veteran detective.

Bristow, the candidate, said he recently took a government course through adult education in Skowhegan and got interested in the process.

"I'm really interested in what's going on with the town, so I thought this would be the best way to get really familiar with what goes on running the town," he said. "I really enjoyed the class; I learned a lot in that class.

"I think, as a selectman, you're involved in almost everything as far as small town government, at all the different levels."

Bristow, who coaches the junior high school baseball team, said one object of the town government is to make sure that Madison Paper Industries remains healthy because it carries the bulk of the town's tax base.

Bristow said he thinks it is time to infuse "fresh blood" into local government.

"I just think that new ideas are good for the town, whether they are right ideas, at least they are brought to the forefront," he said.

In other voting Tuesday, Richard Bartlett, Brock Hagopian and Dennis Wright all are running for one open seat on the Madison Electric Works board for a five-year term.

Running uncontested on Tuesday's ballot for two three-year terms on the school board are incumbent Troy Emery and Elaine Wilder-Kirk. Incumbent Ben Blackwell's name is not on the ballot.

Also running uncontested are: Glen Mantor, road commissioner; Kathy Estes, town clerk and treasurer; Ethelle Christopher, sanitary district; Beverly Hebert, water district; and Cheryl Perkins, library trustee.

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534 ext. 342

dharlow@centralmaine.com