When the polls open at 8 a.m. Tuesday, city voters will have a number of choices to make — including the decision to support an incumbent mayor or a former mayor.

Other contested races include a four-way battle for the Ward 1 council seat, a challenge to a five-term incumbent in Ward 2, and a former Fire Chief who hopes to wear a politician's hat.

The School Board has candidates for all of its open slots, however there is only once contested race in Ward 2 — between small-business owner Desiree Mclaughlin and former SAU 18 Special Education Director Ryan Fairchild.

Mclaughlin owns and operates Central Street Laundromat and is a single parent to a 4-year-old. Fairchild worked in the Franklin School District until last year when he became the SAU 8 (Clairmont, Cornish and Unity) Director of Special Education.

In Ward 1, for the one-year position, former naval intelligence officer Elizabeth "Bettey" A. Tobey is running unopposed for the position.

The two-year opening for Ward 1 School Board is incumbent Kathleen Russo and the three-year seat candidate is incumbent and Karen Grzelak. She is also the head of the district's finance committee.

In the Ward 3 School Board race, political newcomer Logan Barbosa is running unopposed.

Incumbent Mayor Kenneth Merrifield spent three-terms on the School Board, nearly three terms on the City Council, and has served as mayor for one term.

He is most known for his unwavering support of the city's 20-year-old tax cap and invoked the rarely-used mayoral veto in a failed attempt to stop the city council from adopting a budget that exceed the cap for the first time.

Former Mayor Clayton Gassett served one term as Mayor in the late 1980s and nearly 30 years as a city councilor from Ward 2.

While not opposing the tax or "spending cap" as he calls it, he said he is running because he wants thinks the mayor and the council are at loggerheads and wishes to make the be more cooperative with each other.

The Ward 1 race for City Council is wide open and pits incumbent Robert "Bob" Sharon against three challengers — tax cap supporter Rosemary Mellon, Heritage Commission Chair Robert "Bob" Morin Jr., and Martin "Marty" Russo, a locksmith who served in the U.S. military in Africa.

Russo said he is an ardent tax cap proponent who thinks the next two city budgets won't be any easier than the last, and thinks further cuts in spending may be warranted.

Brian Boynton is challenging five-time incumbent Glen Feener in Ward 2 and hopes to create an Energy Committee for the City of Franklin, which would focus on energy audits and energy upgrades for all public buildings.

Active in local theater, he has three children and thinks revitalizing the downtown and attracting new businesses is the path to success.

Feener is a noted fiscal hawk who was the only dissenting vote for theirs year's override budget. Feener not only voted no on the budget but was the only person to vote to support Merrifield's veto. Feener is a finance specialist with two grown children.

With Ward 3 incumbent Jeffrey Rabinowicz not seeking re-election, tax cap supporter Jeffrey Whitney and former Fire Chief Scott Clarenbach are facing off for the seat.

"Jeff and Rosemary are both serious tax cap supporters and view the $500K appropriation as a break of the CAP. Jeff's answer to a balance is an aggressive Economic Development program," said Denise Sharlow of the Franklin business and Industrial Corp. "Rosemary considers the tax cap to be absolute and that we should live within it, even if we do not have money for infrastructure and road improvements and engineering. She and Jeff feel that if they have to live within their budgets the city needs to do the same."

Ward 1 votes at Thompson Hall on South Main Street, Ward 2 votes at City Hall and Ward 3 votes at the Franklin Middle School. Polls open at 8 a.m. and closes at 7 p.m.

GASSETT