NITA KINCAID TO RUN FOR SELECTMAN IN NORTH STONINGTON

North Stonington — Another resident has entered the as-yet sparse field of candidates for seats on the Board of Selectmen in November.

Nita Kincaid, a longtime resident who has served on various committees in town, filed papers and a petition with the Office of the Secretary of the State in Hartford on Monday, declaring her candidacy for selectman.

So far, only Robert Carlson, who currently serves as the chairman of the Board of Education, has declared his candidacy for selectman. He was endorsed by the Republican Town Committee two weeks ago in a vote between himself and two other candidates.

Two residents, Asa Palmer and Mike Urgo, were endorsed for the first selectman position by the Republican Town Committee and Democratic Town Committee, respectively.

None of the current Board of Selectmen, including First Selectman Shawn Murphy and longtime prior First Selectman Nicholas Mullane, who now serves as a selectman, will be running for re-election.

Kincaid recently served on the Town Government Structure Committee, which studied the operations of Town Hall for six months before recommending a plan that included two new positions to support the first selectman: a finance and administration officer, in charge of preparing the budget and handing the town government’s day-today administrative needs, as well as a planning and economic development officer who would advocate for the town’s longterm development objectives.

Planning, Development and Zoning Official Juliet Hodge has filled the committee’s planning role, but due to the stalled town budget, the money to fund the finance and administration job has yet to be approved.

Kincaid said carrying out the rest of the Town Government Structure Committee’s recommendations was part of the reason she decided to run for selectman.

“I think it does need to move forward,” she said of the finance and administration position. “I think our biggest challenge is what we’re going to hear from the state government about what we’re going to get” in funding, she said.

Before she moved to North Stonington, Kincaid worked for Fidelity Investments in Boston, holding a number of positions before retiring as an executive vice president.

She graduated from Connecticut College with a degree in psychology, and taught fourth to sixth grades, as well as middle school, for 14 years — first in Weston and then Newburyport, Mass. Recently, she has served as co-chairwoman of the Hewitt Farm Committee, was involved in the drafting of the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development and helped organize NoStoFest last year, a block party-like celebration of the townspeople and town-made products.

She will appear on the ballot as a petitioning candidate because she made the decision to run after the town’s caucuses, although she is a registered Democrat.