The face of the Merrill Area Public Schools Board of Education won’t change following the April 4 general election. Of the five seats up for election on the board, only the incumbents are registered to run. They are Kevin Blake, Eric Geiss, Paul Proulx, Jon Smith and Maria Volpe.
In the April election, the top three vote-getters will be elected to three-year terms, the fourth highest vote count will serve out the two-year term, and the candidate garnering the lowest number of votes will be back up for election in 2018. With three mid-term resignations from the board over the past year, the differing term lengths are necessary to keep the board’s staggered three-year term schedule on track.
Blake and Geiss are seeking re-election to the seats they were elected to in 2014. Those two seats will be elected to full three-year terms on the board.
The other three incumbents on the ballot were appointed to the board following resignations in 2016.
Proulx was appointed to the board in March 2016, following the resignation of Brad Kanitz, who was last elected in 2015. Because Kanitz would have been up for election again in 2018, that seat has one year remaining in its regular term.
Smith and Volpe were both appointed to the board in July 2016, following the resignations of Jeff Hetfeld and John Shull. Hetfeld was last elected in 2014, so that seat will be elected to a full three-year term. Shull was elected in 2016, so there are two years remaining in that term.