PERU – Residents will have plenty of time to gather nomination signatures, run for office and vote during the next two months thanks in part to a combination of the proposed merger of Peru with SAD 21 and the annual town meeting.

And for a while, if voters decide to merge school districts, the town will have both a Peru school board and four members on the SAD 21 board.

The merger vote is scheduled from noon to 8 p.m. Feb. 24 at Rockemeka Grange. At the same time, voters will also select four people to represent them on the SAD 21 board.

Town Clerk Vera Parent said residents wishing to run for two three-year terms, one two-year term and one one-year term on the SAD 21 board may pick up nomination papers at the town office. The signatures of at least 25 registered Peru voters must be collected, then the papers turned in by Jan. 26.

She said Peru committee member Rick Colpitts, principal of Crescent Park Elementary School, has taken out papers for one of the three-year slots. Peru board member Lynda Hebert, co-owner of Mountain Valley Sports, has taken out papers for the two-year term. Newcomer David Martin Jr. of Valley Road has taken out papers for the one-year position.

Parent said she doesn’t know if any of the other Peru committee members will run for a seat on the SAD 21 board.

Absentee ballots to vote on the merger or for the SAD 21 board seats will be available at the town office on Feb. 2.

Information on the merger will be presented at 6 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Peru school. A public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 11, also at the Peru school.

If Peru residents approve the merger, then SAD 21’s member towns, Carthage, Canton and Dixfield, must hold special town meetings for their residents to decide whether to merge with Peru.

While the voting and meetings are going on for the proposed merger, the town’s annual town meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, March 20, at the Peru school. Voting for two Peru school board members, along with the election of one selectmen will take place from noon until 8 p.m. Monday, March 22, at Rockemeka Grange.

The three-year terms of school committee members Janet Rowley and Patricia Hunt are up. Hunt has taken out papers, but so far, Rowley has not. Nomination papers for the two school committee positions, as well for the seat held by Selectman Norman DeRoche, are due back at the town office with the signatures of at least 25 registered voters by Jan. 30.

Parent said if the merger goes through, the Peru school board must continue for at least a year so that it can help with the merger and work with the SAD 21 board.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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