MILFORD – There is no shortage of candidates for the two open seats on the Milford Board of Selectmen this year. Seven people, including two incumbents, are competing for two open three-year seats on the board.

Board Chairman Mark Fougere and longtime Selectman Gary Daniels are being challenged by Paul Dargie, Suzanne Fournier, Christopher Labonte, James Powers and Christopher Skinner.

Selectman Gary Daniels has served on the board since 2003 and also had two terms on the school board and three terms as school district moderator. He is a state senator for District 11, covering Amherst, Merrimack, Milford and Wilton, where he is chairman of the finance committee. He served as a state representative for many years, beginning in 1990.

Paul Dargie served on the Milford School Board for 15 years, several of them as chairman, and on the town’s capital improvement plan citizens advisory committee for eight years, often as chairman.

He is now on the fire station renovation committee and the town budget advisory committee. He also served on many school board subcommittees over the years, including those involved in finance, policy, technology, wellness, buildings and professional development.

“I have a good understanding of the long term capital needs of the town. I do not have a particular agenda I want to promote,” he said in the statement for the town’s Voters’ Guide.

Selectman Mark Fougere is a professional planner and land use consultant and former member of the Milford Planning Board and served on several building and facilities committees, often as chairman.

“Many challenges continue to face our community today, including stabilizing MACC-Base (the emergency communications center) and improving police communications,” Fougere said. Also “ensuring the future of the Pumpkin Festival, addressing critical needs at DPW, supporting police to combat the ongoing opioid crisis and continuing to concentrate on improving the town’s roads and bridges.”

This is the second year in a row Suzanne Fournier has run for selectman. As a founder of the group Brox Environmental Citizens, she is a longtime opponent of the board’s policies and actions regarding the 270-acre town-owned Brox property where a major gravel operation is planned.

“What the Board of Selectmen needs is someone who won’t be part of a “good ol’ boys network,” she wrote, and questioned money spent to prepare for the gravel work.

Christopher Labonte is the founder of C.R. Labonte Ground Maintenance and a member of the school budget advisory committee. He says he wants to bring clarity and transparency to the board.

“After years of interest in local government,” he wrote, “I made it my goal to become more involved in the town.”

In his Voters Guide profile, James R. Powers identified himself as a pilot with a bachelors degree but did not respond to a request for a photo and an interview.

Christopher Skinner works in security, including two years at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. He also volunteered for two years on the Brookline Fire Department and is a leader of the Milford Gun Club, which last year tried to open an area of the town’s Brox property to target shooting.

There is also a contest for a three-year position on the board of cemetery trustees. George Hoyt, a college student and member of the town recycling committee, is challenging incumbent Mary Dickson, who works as the administrative assistant to the public works director.

For supervisor of the checklist, incumbent Darlene Bouffard and George W. Skuse are running for one six-year position.

Election day is Tuesday, March 13, with voting at Milford Middle School from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.