BRADFORD, Vt. — A year ago, two members of the Selectboard resigned alleging prejudice in the municipal government. Now, six candidates are running for three seats on the board.

“I’m really amazed because usually you have to shake the trees to find someone to run and this time they were coming out of the woodwork,” board member Meroa “Peep” Benjamin said in a phone interview.

Incumbent Carole Taylor faces a challenge from Marthanne “Marcey” Carver for a two-year term; incumbent Michael Wright will face off against Ralph Messenger for a three-year term; and Jon Larrabee faces Joshua Allen for one-year remaining on a three-year term.

The competitive field comes following recent turmoil on the board.

In October, Ryan Lockwood and Nikki Stevens resigned from the board, accusing some remaining board members and other town employees of sexism and transphobia.

The three remaining members, Benjamin, Wright and Dan Perry, appointed Taylor and Randy Moore — two former board members — to the empty seats.

But first, the three remaining members unanimously voted to remove Carver from the Planning Commission, a position she had held for more than a decade. According to state law, in order to remove a member of the Planning Commission, the Selectboard must vote unanimously.

The board also removed Carver from all of her other volunteer positions. Carver was a Two Rivers-Ottauqueechee Regional Commission representative, Tri-Valley Transit representative, and served on the Beautification Committee and Bradford Resilience Committee.

Now, Carver wants a seat on the board next to those who removed her.

“There was no reason given in the letter of termination and I’ve never been told a reason by any of the three board members,” Carver said in a phone interview.

The Selectboard members who removed her declined to share the exact reason publicly, but they deny that she was not given an explanation for her removal.

“Marcey knows why she was removed from those positions,” Wright said in a phone interview.

He said the board met with Carver and told her the reason before it made its decision.

Wright said Carver “did a lot of great service for the town” and “had good intentions,” but “the way some things were being done didn’t meet expectations or requirements.”

Benjamin emphasized that the decision to remove Carver was not made in haste.

“That wasn’t a light decision,” she said in a phone interview. “And it wasn’t a rash decision. It had been years in the making.”

Perry, who’s been on the Selectboard for about 18 years, said Carver “doesn’t always work well with others.”

Ted Unkles, a former Selectboard member who is the current Planning Commission chairman, said he had no communication with anyone on the Selectboard about Carver and “was as surprised as anyone else after they removed her.”

Now Perry has a year left on his term and Benjamin has two. Wright is running for reelection. Should there be friction between Carver and the board members who removed her if she’s elected, Carver said: “It certainly wouldn’t come from me.”

Benjamin, Wright and Perry all echoed Carver’s sentiment.

Two-year term

To get on the board, Carver will have to beat out Taylor.

Taylor is an 80-year-old lifelong Bradford resident who served on the board for 12 years before Stevens unseated her in 2023. She returned to the board in the fall after Stevens resigned.

“Anybody that’s been in Bradford for some amount of time knows me, and knows my passion for the town of Bradford,” Taylor said in a phone interview.

As well as the Selectboard, Taylor serves on the Developmental Review Board, the Water and Sewer Commission, and is a justice of the peace and co-road commissioner.

Taylor worked as a police dispatcher at the Vermont State Police and the Bradford Police Department for a combined 37 years. She is now retired and volunteers at Orange East Senior Center in Bradford three days a week. Her top priority on the Selectboard is looking out for the senior citizens of Bradford.

“We have a lot of elderly people on fixed income and I just feel like I need to work for them,” Taylor said.

Carver, 70, moved to Bradford in the late 1980s. She worked as a real estate agent while raising her daughter as a single mother. She is now self-employed as an accountant and owns several apartments.

Besides having “very good knowledge of how the town works” through her time on the Planning Commission, Carver also said her background in accounting and finance makes her a good fit for the board.

If elected, her priority would be to raise revenues through means other than property taxes. “Grants are a great vehicle,” she said.

Three-year term

Also up for reelection is 45-year-old Michael Wright.

Wright said he grew up in a trailer park in Bradford where he and his family lived off of food stamps. He first became a father just three months after his 16th birthday. He now has six kids and is a construction superintendent for HP Cummings Construction, which has offices in Woodsville and Barre, Vt. At work, he manages budgets of up to $30 million and handles personnel matters on the job site.

Before joining the Selectboard in 2023, Wright served on the Parks and Recreation Commission for four years and as the chairman for part of that time. While on the commission, he helped create the full-time, paid, Parks and Recreation director position.

Getting electric vehicle chargers installed downtown, creating the town administrator position and hiring for it, and updating Selectboard policies to make them more inclusive, are a few of the things Wright is proud of helping to accomplish in his two years on the Selectboard.

But there’s more Wright wants to accomplish, including making the volunteer firefighters town employees, looking into housing development and revitalizing downtown.

“Voters know who I am, what I am doing, and what I’m willing to do,” Wright said. “I’m not a Selectboard member that shows up to meetings and just votes yea or neigh, I do a lot of homework. When I make a decision I get input from community members.”

Former town constable and village police officer Ralph Messenger is running against Wright.

Messenger, 54, is a second-generation Bradford resident. Two of Messenger’s children, along with their children, also reside in the town.

He spent 20 years on active duty in the National Guard before retiring in 2015. He is now a construction worker for O’Hara and Gercke, Inc., based in White River Junction.

“My whole adult life I’ve given back to the country,” Messenger said in a phone interview. “It’s time to take the next step in serving the town.”

In terms of what he hopes to bring the board if elected, Messenger said, “it’s kind of hard to come in as a new person and have an agenda. My focus is to work with the people on the board to progress the town and keep our tax rate low.”

One-year remaining on a three-year term

Two more lifelong Bradford residents, Joshua Allen and Jon Larrabee, are running to serve the final year in the term Lockwood vacated.

About 25 years ago, Allen was the youngest person to serve on the Oxbow Unified Union School District Board. Now, he serves on several boards in the community and is the assistant varsity softball coach at Oxbox High School.

“Not all change is bad,” Allen, the 46-year-old owner of the Bradford-based security company Alarmco, said. “I think it is really important to remember that Bradford is a small town and keeping that feel is important, but also with time, sometimes things have to change.”

If elected, Allen’s focus will be on efficiency in the local government. He’s also interested in looking at how zoning could be changed to allow for more accessory dwelling units to help address the housing crisis in the region.

“I’m very open to hearing everyone’s opinions before making a decision,” Allen said. “There are some votes that are gonna be controversial. I’m understanding of the fact that you need to hear all the sides.”

Larrabee, 63, has never held an elected office, but he stays active by serving on the Bradford Fair Committee and umpiring for youth baseball and softball, which he’s done for 45 years. He said he also gets to know his neighbors through his job at the O’Reilly Auto Parts in town.

Larrabee would like the Selectboard to focus on necessities.

“A lot of people are saying their wants,” Larrabee said. “I don’t mind changes and upgrades in town, but only if it’s needed.”

The town’s plan for a new skate park at Elizabeth Park is an example of a want Larrabee does not think Bradford needs. “A small wooden one is good enough.” he said.

Larrabee would however like to see Bradford “spruce up” for the holidays.

“You used to make your town look attractive,” he said “You’re representing the holiday spirit, Bradford has lost that over the years.”

Voting for Selectboard and other elected town offices will be by Australian ballot on Tuesday, March 4 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Bradford Academy Building located at 172 North Main St. In-person Town Meeting, which residents must attend to vote on budget and tax decisions, is Saturday, March 1 at 9 a.m. at the Bradford Academy Auditorium.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.