OAKLAND — Voters in Oakland on Nov. 3 will decide contested seats on the Regional School Unit 18 board of directors and the town’s budget and advisory committee.

Tyler Backus is challenging incumbent Rick Stubbert, who is seeking his third term on the RSU 18 board.

School board

Name: Rick Stubbert

Rick Stubbert

Age: 51

Education: Graduated from Waterville Senior High School in 1988; Saint Anselm College, 1995, bachelor’s degree in history.

Occupation: Deputy chief of Oakland Police Department.

Experience: Running for third term on Regional School Unit 18 board of directors.

Family: Married with two girls in RSU 18: Rubee is in fourth grade and Charlee is in eighth grade.

School board

Tyler Backus 

Name: Tyler Backus

Age: 42

Party: Democrat

Education: Graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington in 2008, with a bachelor’s degree in political science; University of Southern Maine, 2014, master’s degree public policy; Georgetown University, 2019, certificate of education finance.

Occupation: Coordinator of school finance compliance & governance, Maine Department of Education.

Experience: Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission Military Family Education Liaison, 2016-2018; Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission Commissioner Designee, 2018-present; Betsy Ann Ross House of Hope board member, 2018-19; U.S. Army, 1996-2016.

Family: Married, with one school-age child.

Budget Committee

Name: Richard MacKenzie

Richard MacKenzie

Age: 62

Education: Graduated from Waterville Senior High School in 1976; University of New Hampshire, 1984, bachelor’s degree in civil/structural engineering.

Occupation: Founding owner of Construction Consulting of Maine.

Experience: Town of Oakland appointed positions: Long Range Planning Committee, 2000-10; Facilities Committee, 2015-present. Community Organizations: Paul Harris Fellow, Waterville Rotary Club; Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce.

Family: Married to Judy; adult daughter, Holly.

Budget Committee

Justin Richard

Name: Justin Richard

Age: 22

Education: Attended grade school at Messalonskee schools, then Temple Academy in Waterville, graduating in 2016. Attended several military schools to work with weapons of mass destruction.

Occupation: Army National Guard, full time with the 11th Civil Support Team in Waterville.

Family: Family lives in Rome; father worked for many years with the Oakland Police Department; mother a mail carrier in Madison; one younger sister, attending college in Pennsylvania.

Stubbert, also Oakland’s deputy police chief, is the father of two school-age daughters and a youth sports coach. He said he planned to keep the district “moving forward, as I have done for six years.”

“The big challenge facing us right now is keeping the students and staff safe during COVID and, at the same time, providing a quality education,” Stubbert, 51, said. “I would like to expand the choices of extracurricular activities for kids so that we can get a greater number of students involved in something.”

Backus, 42, works for the Maine Department of Education as its coordinator of school finance compliance & governance. He is experienced with school finances, which he said would transfer over to the school board as schools feel the reverberations of the coronavirus pandemic. Backus has a school-age child.

“My plan, if elected, is to pay attention, withhold judgment of different ideas, reflect on conversations, clarify anything that is unclear, summarize conversations and share my own ideas to create a positive atmosphere for the children in our community to learn,” said Backus, who served in the U.S. Army from 1996 to 2016.

In the other local race on the Oakland ballot, Richard MacKenzie and Justin Richard are vying for a seat on the town’s budget and advisory committee.

MacKenzie, 62, is the founding owner of Construction Consulting of Maine in Oakland. He served previously, for 10 years, on Oakland’s long-range planning committee, and has been on the facilities commission since 2015.

MacKenzie was also active in past years with the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce.

MacKenzie commended Town Manager Gary Bowman’s efforts in updating town facilities without increasing the tax rate, and said he looks forward to emphasizing a push for improving the downtown area.

“I am running for the budget and advisory committee to ensure that the committee has all open positions filled and to learn more about the town of Oakland’s finances and budget process,” MacKenzie said. “I hope to be able to bring knowledge and experience in finance from my own business and my involvement with other organizations.”

Richard, 22, is a full-time member of the Army National Guard, with the 11th Civil Support Team in Waterville. He has also worked for the Oakland and Rome Fire departments for a handful of years.

Richard acknowledged his youthfulness, saying he hoped to start in town politics now so he can begin having an impact.

He said he wants Oakland to become a greater draw as a place for people to live and businesses to operate.

“I am starting at a young age, running for a committee position with the intentions of climbing the ladder in town, working with the community to make the best decisions for the town,” Richard said.

“I grew up here and have no intentions of leaving. I care about the town and hope to see it grow, but still keep our small, rural-town feeling.”