HEATH — Two candidates with years of town service between them are vying for the Selectboard seat of Susan Lively, who is not seeking reelection to another three-year term.

Michael Smith, 55, is a lifelong resident. He was the town’s highway superintendent for 20 years, a town police officer, a 34-year volunteer firefighter and served on the Planning Board in the early 1990s.

Today, Smith instructs highway and department of public works employees through the Baystate Roads job training program at the University of Massachusetts Transportation Center. He is also an instructor for his own company, Chainsaw Strategies.

“My desire to become a Selectboard member is not about me — it’s about the town,” Smith told residents at Sunday’s “Meet the Candidates” event held at the Jacobs Road Municipal Center. Among his reasons for running is his desire to increase town revenues and maximize the use of all town buildings.

Smith said he would like the town to call on experts to help create a long-range strategic plan for the town’s buildings, roads and infrastructure.

“It has to have achievable benchmarks that we can meet,” he said in an interview.

“Capital projects are huge expenditures,” Smith added. “Some things we have little control over — things that cost the town the most. Whether I win or lose this race, I will continue to do what I have been doing to help the town.”

Smith’s challenger, William Emmet, 66, and his wife, Anne, bought a cabin in Heath in 2006 and became full-time residents in 2019 after retirement. Emmet was a mechanical engineer doing research for 36 years at the Yale University Physics Department, and had also performed industrial research as well. Since 2020, Emmet has been on the town’s Finance Committee and is a constable. He is also currently on the Planning Board, the Energy Advisory Committee, the Fire Department and the Heath Firefighters Association.

“None of our problems are unique to Heath,” he said. “I’m interested in looking at successful ideas that have worked for other communities.”

If elected to the Selectboard, Emmet said he will look for grants to fund infrastructure improvements, including a new salt shed, new fire garage, and ongoing bridge and road repairs. He hopes to increase the efficiency of town departments through county-level shared services, such as those offered by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments. He would also like to raise town revenue through rental use of town buildings, and pay off town debt. Also, Emmet would like to see more young families move into this town of roughly 700 people.

The following candidates are running unopposed:

■Town Clerk Mary Sumner for reelection, three-year term.

■Finance Committee, incumbents Edwin “Ned” Wolf and Robert McGahan, two seats with three-year terms.

■Planning Board, William Fontes, five-year term.

■Library trustee, Rebecca Johnston, three-year term.

■School Committee, incumbent Budge Litchfield, three-year term.

■Municipal Light Board, incumbents Edwin “Ned Wolf” and Arthur Schwenger, two seats with three-year terms.

■Constable Steven Thane for reelection, three-year term.

The town has two vacant positions on the ballot: a one-year term on the School Committee and a three-year Finance Committee seat. These positions could be decided by write-in votes.

Polls will be open on Friday, May 10, from noon to 7 p.m. at the Jacobs Road Municipal Center.