ROCHESTER — Two candidates are running for one seat on the Rochester Select Board.

Incumbent Woody Hartley is running for his third term on the Select Board.

Hartley said that he originally ran for Select Board in 2017 because he felt that Rochester was “stuck.”

“We were not moving in a direction, we were keeping the lifeboat afloat but we weren't moving towards the land at all,” said Hartley. “And [now] I think we are [moving] and I want to keep it going, especially on some of these bigger projects that we're working on.”

During his six years on the board, Hartley has worked with other board members and the Finance Committee to provide a budget “safety net” for the town of Rochester.

“We have been putting money away for the last five years now, really putting money away into stabilization funds,” he said.

Hartley describes the town’s current budget as being in an “adjustment phase.”

“We're in a good place but at the same time … we know that next year is going to be different,” he said.

Hartley explained that lower rates of home-building has resulted in a lower amount of town revenue.

Hartley said he suggested to the board to make Rochester a Green Community, but has since examined other money saving options such as electrical aggregation due to a lack of clarity provided by the state.

“The state did not prepare us with an understanding,” he said, referencing added building costs due to stretch codes.

Whether or not Rochester stays a Green Community will be up to voters at the Town Meeting on Monday, May 22.

If elected, Hartley said he will further evaluate the town’s budget.

He would ideally like to see the town “break ground” on revitalizing Rochester’s public safety buildings within the next five to 10 years.

According to Hartley, the police and fire departments along with EMS are in need of adequate space for training and operations.

“My biggest goal on this was to get a group together to look into it to do a feasibility study and bring it to the people and let the townspeople decide what they want to do,” Hartley said.

Although he has a vision for the town’s future, Hartley would like to see the positive aspects of Rochester stay the same.

“I’d like to be able to see us keep so many things that make Rochester special,” he said, referring to increasing rates of town involvement and volunteerism. “We've got some of the greatest people that work for the town of Rochester.”

Hartley is facing challenger Adam Murphy for a seat on the Rochester Select Board in the town election on Wednesday, May 24.