NORTHFIELD — A Selectboard hopeful’s campaign marks the only contest in this year’s town election as two incumbents defend their seats.

The otherwise uncontested ballot will come before voters at Town Hall on Tuesday, May 2, will polls open from noon to 8 p.m. It will also feature a question prompting residents to vote on whether the position of town clerk should be elected or appointed.

Sarah Kerns, a relative newcomer to Northfield, will challenge incumbents Mary Sullivan Bowen and Barbara “Bee” Jacque for one of two three-year terms up for election in 2023.

Sarah Kerns

Despite having lived in Northfield for less than two years, Kerns, 52, said she has diligently observed town governance by attending many meetings. In doing so, Kerns said she observed a shortcoming in how accessible the Selectboard makes information to the public.

“I learned from attending the meetings that folks weren’t getting the information they needed to make informed decisions,” she said, noting that one change she would advocate for would involve moving the public comment period earlier. “Accessibility to data and information is super important. Accessibility doesn’t just mean a voice recording if you’re blind; it means the ability to get the information and understand the information.”

Kerns formerly served as an election clerk and now serves on Northfield’s Conservation Commission. She also works as a research associate in the Psychology Department at Wellesley College, holds degrees in both biochemistry and psychology, and is pursuing a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience.

Kern feels her strengths — as someone who is detail-oriented, thorough as a communicator and who can approach budgeting with “outside-the-box” thinking — would help the Selectboard figure out solutions to the town’s most pressing matters.

Barbara Jacque

Jacque, who has served on the Selectboard for three years and currently chairs it, said she is running for another term to tackle unfinished business.

“I feel like I’m right in the middle of a couple key efforts,” she said. “We’re trying to put the tough challenges that have been kicked down the road in front of Northfield citizens.”

Ongoing projects Jacque hopes to see through include constructing a Public Safety Complex, securing funding to replace the Schell Bridge and pursuing downtown revitalization. She plans to help establish an economic development board that would draw expertise from Business Park Committee members.

“We have a lot of [privately owned] space, and we’re going to have outside pressure to come and buy that space and use it for something that we’re not really happy with,” she said, stressing the importance of rural towns making the most of their land.

Jacque, 65, holds graduate degrees in both human development and engineering. She began her career working in college admissions and financial aid. Her resumé also includes working at eBay and with the Humane Society of Silicon Valley in California.

Her involvement in town government over the past three years includes not only her service to the Selectboard, but consistent attendance at Finance Committee meetings, School Committee meetings and budget hearings. Jacque also chairs the Historical Commission.

Mary Sullivan Bowen

Sullivan Bowen, 59, said she has prioritized the concerns of Northfield residents during her two years as a Selectboard member, listening to the community’s needs and reiterating their joys and concerns to her fellow members.

“I wanted to see how the town was run, and also I had a feeling that the citizens were not being heard, so I wanted to be the voice for the citizens,” Sullivan Bowen said.

Along with supporting the town as a Selectboard member, Sullivan Bowen is also vice president of the Friends of the Dickinson Memorial Library and a member of the Friends of the Schell Bridge. She moved to Northfield seven years ago, yet she’s owned and run the Northfield Creamie for the past 16 years.

If reelected, Sullivan Bowen said she hopes to revitalize downtown with new business and entrepreneurs. She also plans on facilitating community support for existing and new businesses. She said she will continue to be a voice for residents in addition to her new goals.

Town clerk selection

Voting “yes” on this year’s sole ballot question would support a transition from having an elected town clerk position to an appointed one. The question’s placement on the ballot follows last year’s Annual Town Meeting vote to bring it to the 2023 election.

Current Town Clerk Dan Campbell, who has served for nine years and plans to retire this summer, said that years ago, being a town clerk primarily entailed organizing and storing documents. Now, “those days are gone.”

“This position becomes more and more complicated every single day,” Campbell explained. “We make it look easy sometimes … but there’s a lot of things that go into this job that people never see. … There’s not a day that goes by where we aren’t pulling our hair out of our heads because of all the things we have to do.”

Campbell echoed the rationale of Montague Town Clerk Deb Bourbeau, who announced her retirement and advocated for the transition from elected to appointed town clerks during Montague’s Special Town Meeting in March. Bourbeau argued that the transition from an elected position to an appointed position has been necessitated by the job becoming “increasingly complex,” a reason she later cited as impetus for her retirement. Having to follow different sets of laws unique to voting by mail, in-person early voting, accessible voting and voting for those who live away in the military is what most significantly contributed to the job’s increased complexity.

Other positions

The other positions on Tuesday’s ballot are as follows:

■Assessor, three-year term — Alice B. Lord , incumbent.

■Board of Health, three-year term — Alison Deborah Wahlstrom, incumbent,

■Board of Health, two-year term — Kathryn Bridges, incumbent.

■Library trustees, two seats with three-year terms — Jon McGowen and Lloyd Ellison Parrill, both incumbents.

■Planning Board, five-year term — Michele Marir Wood. Additionally, Gail Weiss is running a write-in campaign, and is endorsed by three current Planning Board members.

■Recreation Commission, one-year term, — Chelsea Ray Depault.

■Sewer commissioner, three-year term — Karen Boudreau, incumbent.

■Grandin Water District commissioner, three-year term — Peter Holme Weis.

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.

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