The town of Freedom could potentially lose two members of its Select Board this week, after one member, Ryan Willette, stepped down and a second member, Heather Donahue, is the subject of a recall election on Wednesday.
Willette, whose term was due to expire in March 2026, stepped down from the position on Monday, according to Town Clerk Cindy Abbott.
That left just two other members on the board. But on Wednesday, Freedom residents were also going to the polls for the proposed recall of Donahue, a former Hollywood actor who starred in “The Blair Witch Project” and was elected to the Select Board last year after moving to Freedom in 2022. Voting was due to end at 8 p.m.
If Donahue is recalled, Chairperson Laura Greeley would be the last remaining board member, and she would be unable to complete a number of the Select Board’s regular tasks on her own, according to Abbott.
The town would then have to hold a special election to fill vacant seats on the Select Board.
Donahue has come under fire from some residents for spray painting trees along Beaver Ridge Road, which the town has asserted is public but some residents have argued is private. Opponents have argued that Donahue, who lives on the road, was acting in a personal capacity when she painted the trees, while she has said that she was surveying it in her role as an elected official. A local family, the Hadyniaks, have sued the town over the conflict.
If Donahue remains on the board after Wednesday, the panel would likely take up Willette’s vacancy at its next meeting on May 5.
If Donahue is recalled, it was not immediately clear how the vacancies would be filled.
