CONWAY — A contested Board of Assessors race will be decided in this year’s town election, while four seats have no candidates on the ballot.

Roxanne Parent, an incumbent assessor who won a one-year term in last year’s election, is being challenged by Planning Board member George Forcier for a three-year term on the Board of Assessors. The election will be held on Thursday, June 8, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Academy Hill Road.

Roxanne Parent

Parent, a lifelong resident of Conway, said her one-year stint on the board has helped her build the skills needed to mesh well with her fellow members. She ran for the position last year on the idea of transparency and openness to the office, which she said she still believes in.

“It’s been a real learning experience,” said Parent, 67. “After a year … I really feel like I can be an asset.”

In joining a board that didn’t experience any turnover for more than a decade, Parent said she was proud to help submit a $24,000 funding article to Town Meeting to convert the Board of Assessors’ software into a more efficient and transparent one.

“I still feel transparency is a big thing,” said Parent, who runs her own pottery business in town, adding she is also working on putting together a Zoom class for residents to help them better understand their property cards and how assessments work. “That’s something I would really promote if I was reelected.”

George Forcier

Forcier, 69, is a longtime Conway resident and has served on the Planning Board for the last few years. A former news editor and editor-in-chief of the Greenfield Recorder, Forcier said his decades as a journalist will inform his work as an assessor if he is elected.

“The skill set that makes a good reporter and a good news person, makes a good assessor,” Forcier explained, noting that close attention to detail, fairly evaluating a situation and accuracy are all parallel qualities between journalism and assessing.

A part-time journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Forcier said he completed a state real estate course and he is prepared to take on a “more technical job” than the Planning Board. However, he plans to continue serving on the Planning Board if he is elected to the Board of Assessors.

“There’s definitely a learning curve … but the other two assessors have been on the job a long time, so I’m sure they’ll be very helpful in that respect as well,” Forcier said. “My fundamental concern, besides doing the technical job well, is the question of fairness, and that’s what I think people should expect, that we’ll be fair and equitable.”

Other positions and a ballot question

There are four seats that have no candidates on the ballot, with both the Board of Health and Planning Board having two seats with three-year terms open. Residents will also be asked to answer a non-binding question regarding Town Meeting scheduling. A “yes” vote signals that folks prefer Town Meeting be scheduled for Saturdays, while a “no” vote shows preference for Town Meeting being scheduled on a weeknight.

The remaining uncontested races are as follows:

■Selectboard, three-year term — Erica Goleman, incumbent.

■Conway Grammar School Committee, two seats with three-year terms — Philip Kantor and Michael Merritt, both incumbents.

■Moderator, one-year term — James “Jimmy” Recore, incumbent.

■Tree warden, three-year term — Walter Goodridge, incumbent.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.

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