COLRAIN — Both a Selectboard seat and the town moderator position are contested as voters head to the polls today from noon to 7 p.m. in Town Hall.

Katie Korby and Howard Phelps are vying for a three-year Selectboard term to fill a vacancy left by Thom Griffin, who is not seeking reelection. Meanwhile, Joe Kurland and Michael Slowinski are competing for the town moderator post vacated by Megan McDonough, who moved away after a devastating house fire.

Also running unopposed on the ballot are: Assessor James Slowinski, Constable Melinda Herzig and two Library Trustees — Betsy Johnson and Nancy Turkle.

All candidates were present at a crowded Candidates Night at Griswold Memorial Library last week.

Korby and her husband Justin moved to Colrain 12 years ago and have a 9-year-old daughter. Korby is a partner/treasurer in Real Pickles of Greenfield, while her husband runs his own business, Stoneman Brewery, in Colrain.

“We love Colrain. We hope to stay here forever,” Korby told the audience. “My biggest reason for wanting to be on the Selectboard is to be a support for this community. I’m excited to be more involved [with town government], and I hope to get more people involved and to see a better future.”

Phelps, who grew up in Vermont, moved to Colrain in 1972 and has since served as a volunteer EMT on the Fire Department. He’s also held positions on the Finance Committee and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

“If I’m elected, I’ll do my best to do what’s right for the town,” he said.

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Phelps hopes the town will grow stronger financially and that “we get the people we need to serve the town.” One of his concerns is the growing school budget in a time of declining enrollment.

“We have a very high age for a town,” he said. In 1999, Phelps said, Colrain Central School had roughly 200 students. Now it has about 100. “We’ve lost a lot of money from the state.”

But Korby believes that young families are already moving to Colrain.

“High-speed internet was such a game-changer for us — and being able to stay home to work,” she said. “There is some work to do on the budget, but I’m confident we have the skills and the people to do the work.”

When asked what to do with the recently vacated Barnhardt Manufacturing Co. plant at 247 Main Road, Korby said she didn’t have much information about it. The cotton processing company announced its closure in December 2022, and the plant was shut down over the next several months.

Phelps, who said the plant has not yet been auctioned off, believes it should remain commercial property.

“I would like to see industry or manufacturing here,” Phelps said. However, he expressed doubt about that property’s future.

Slowinski and Kurland are both very familiar faces to most townspeople.

Slowinski was town moderator from 1998 until 2018, when he gave up the job so that McDonough could have it. Because she has moved out of town, Slowinski has thrown his hat back in the ring.

Besides being moderator, Slowinski served on the Selectboard for three years and on the Planning Board for five years. He has also been part of the West Branch Cemetery Association for 30 years and a member of the St. Joseph’s Church Finance Committee in Shelburne Falls.

“I’ve presided over 100 Town Meetings and had thousands of articles get reviewed by the attorney general — and I have never been found in error,” said Slowinski. “If you judge me by my past performance, I measure up.”

Kurland has served 13 years as Colrain’s representative on the Mohawk Trail Regional School District School Committee and three years on the Selectboard.

“I have felt honored to serve and appreciated for my efforts,” Kurland said. “In both of those positions and as a teacher in a high school before that, I have gained experience in how to participate in and to conduct meetings in which everyone has a chance to speak, to be heard and to feel respected.”

An earlier version of this article inaccurately described aspects of Howard Phelps’ background in town government and inaccurately stated where he grew up. Phelps, who grew up in Vermont, moved to Colrain in 1972. He has since held positions on the Finance Committee and the Zoning Board of Appeals.