NEW GLOUCESTER — Selectmen Steven M. Libby and Pamela E. Slye are being challenged for their positions in Tuesday’s elections.

Libby is seeking his fifth term and Slye her second.

Challenging them for the three-year terms are Joshua McHenry and Jean C. Couturier.

“I love the town and I love the process,” Libby said by telephone Wednesday. “People change but the commitment from different people remains the same, all want what is best for the town,” he said.

Libby, 46, has been chairman of the board and in recent months some residents have openly taken issue with what they say is his dominance on all matters before the board.

Libby has served on the Planning Board, Capital Improvement Planning and Budget Committee over the years, including a stint as the town’s representative to Mid-Maine Waste Action Corp. He graduated from the University of Maine and owns Portland Insulation in New Gloucester.

He is the secretary of the New Gloucester Republican Committee.

Libby and his wife, Dorene, are the parents of two young children and live on Gloucester Hill Road.

Slye was a member of the Budget Committee and is a liaison to that volunteer group.

She said she believes in restraining spending and not raising taxes, especially for those on fixed incomes.

She is employed by the Veterans Administration at the Togus Veterans Hospital employs her.

Slye has been a resident of the town for 16 years and lives on Gloucester Hill Road. She and her husband, Brad, are the parents of an adult daughter.

McHenry is a member of the Planning Board and has served on the town road plan ad hoc committee and SAD 15 Budget Advisory Committee in 2009.

“It’s time for a change in New Gloucester. We need a town government that works harder at making information available to its citizens,” he said. “Local officials should not simply follow the letter of the law, but should strive to make town government as inclusive and transparent as possible,” he wrote in his campaign brochure.

McHenry said the budget process needs reform and selectmen should attend meetings of committees they are assigned to as advisory members.

McHenry served as a summer intern in 2004 at U.S. Rep. Tom Allen’s Portland office, and in 2005 at U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud’s Washington, D.C., office.

A graduate of the College of William and Mary, McHenry works at L.L. Bean in Freeport. He and his wife, Megan, live on Promise Lane.

Couturier, 57, said he is seeking election because, “I think New Gloucester needs a change in leadership. There is a big disconnect between elected people and the citizens of New Gloucester,” he said by telephone Wednesday.

“I believe in delegating and let people say what’s on their mind. I like an open form of government,” he said.

“I pledge, if elected, to always have an open door policy. And, to place the interest of the town and its citizens at the very top of the list.”

A native of New Brunswick, Canada, Couturier, became a naturalized citizen in 1998. He has been working in the accounting/income tax field and studied accounting at the University of Maine in Augusta.

He and his wife, Jeanne, live on the Bennett Road.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 8, at Memorial School on Route 231. At the same time, voters will be asked to approve a school budget for 2010-11.