Woolwich has five candidates for board of selectmen. Voters can cast their ballots on Election Day, November 6 or vote absentee.

Selectman David King, and Selectman Dale Chadbourne are both seeking reelection. Their positions are being challenged by three prominent residents of the town, Lloyd Coombs, John Albis, and William Longley.

John Albis, who most recently served as the town's health officer, said he is running for selectman because he says that town government is very important, and in his opinion, it is not being managed as it should be. He said he can see where many improvements can be made.

Albis is a former selectman of West Bath, a former city councilman, and the Public Safety Council of Methuen, Mass. He moved to Maine 25 years ago, after retiring from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Enforcement.

After coming to Maine he became a Sagadahoc Deputy Sheriff for 13 years. He is a member of the American Legion, Post 178, a Bowdon College Track Official and a member of AARP. His former memberships include the West Bath Fire Department and YMCA board of director for six years.

While serving as the town's health officer Albis took classes from the Texas Engineering Extension Service on homeland security awareness for emergency responders; basic EMS concepts for Weapons of Mass Destruction; and received a certificate from the Federal Emergency Management Institute. Albis and his wife have two grown children, John and Scott.

Dale Chadbourne has served as a selectman for the past 16 years, and would like to continue for at least another three years.

"Woolwich is my home, and my world," Chadbourne said during an interview. "I have lived here all my life, and I care about my town. I enjoy supporting the decisions of the voters. Our job as selectmen is to represent the people, and to keep the best interest of the town foremost in our minds."

In November 2001, Chadbourne was elected selectman as a write-in candidate, receiving more votes than other announced candidates that year. He had been a selectman for ten years and was willing to give others an opportunity to serve, thinking he had overstayed his welcome as selectmen. However, of the six people who took nomination papers out, only two had actually returned them. He soon found out that the townspeople still wanted him on the board. He was encouraged by several residents to run as a write-in candidate, which he did, and won his fourth term. He is now seeking his sixth term.

Lloyd Coombs said the reason he is running for selectman is because, "I thoroughly enjoyed my previous five years as selectman and the ten years as town administrator of Woolwich."

"I enjoyed interfacing with its citizens and helping to solve their problems and concerns," Coombs said.

"I decided to enter the race as I believe that my broad background in cost containment, contract management and local government would be of significant value in town operations," he said.

Coombs retired in 1996 as the contracting officer/director of Internal Operations at the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, for the U.S. Navy, at Bath Iron Works. He was a Woolwich selectman from 1992-1995, and town administrator from 1997-2007.

He was President of the Board of Trustees of the Morse High School Scholarship fund, Past President of the Patten Free Library and the Bath High School Alumni Association, and past director of the Woolwich Historical Society.

David King, Sr. who has served the town as selectman for the past 13 years is asking the voters to give him another three years on the board.

"There is a lot of unfinished business I would like to see through. I would like to shepherd the town through the school reorganization, and the building of the new Woolwich school." Referring to the building of a new school, King, who is known for his one-liners, said, "It's like a Jello mold on the end of a stick, of undetermined size, undetermined location, and undetermined number of grades in the school. There are many unknowns in this project."

With the burden on local tax payers, King said, "If I spend a dollar of the taxpayers' money, I want to get a dollar back in return. I don't claim to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do bring common sense to the job. I believe you have to run the town like a business."

King has a sign above his desk at the town office that expresses how he feels about spending the taxpayers money, a quote from Calvin Coolidge: "Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery."

King, who has served as chairman of the board for the past six years, commends his fellow selectmen for having the same concerns for the taxpayers. "We spend the taxpayers' money as if it were our own," he said.

King realizes that the selectmen cannot please all the people all the time. "We can only do what the law allows us to do, and there are things we can do nothing about unfortunately."

William Longley Jr. who comes before the voters with more than 25 years of civic and municipal experience has a slogan which says, "Vote Longley for a change."

Longley is best known around town as the local code enforcement officer (CEO), building inspector and licensed plumbing inspector, positions he held from 1991 through 2005 and 2006. He also employed by the towns of Yarmouth and Cumberland as their code enforcement officer.

Longley's previous civic experience includes: Board of Appeals member in Brunswick; Planning board member in Woolwich; new Sagadahoc Bridge Committee member; and Comprehensive Planning committee member in Woolwich.

He has served on the Woolwich Fire Department since 2001, Emergency Management service, and as an Emergency Medical Technician.

"I have attended most of the selectmen's meetings since the late 1980s and will continue the same level of work ethic that allowed me to serve part-time as CEO, building inspector and licensed plumbing inspector from 1991 until the recent appointment of Ken Desmond," he said.

If elected, Longley said he will work to assist the taxpayer and will propose a "Local Circuit Breaker Program," similar to the one used in other towns such as Yarmouth and Cumberland.

"As a municipal employee I have seen elections come and go, sometimes without any new candidates to run for office. After consulting with my family a choice was made that allows me to seek the office of selectman," Longley said.