FOSTER — Three candidates submitted endorsement papers Tuesday for the Town Council seat vacated when Harold R. Shippee abruptly resigned in March.

Democrat Roger Leroy Hawes, Republican Gordon E. Rogers, and independent Jonathan T. Vorro will face off in the July 8 special election. The winner will serve out Shippee’s term, which expires in December, and be eligible for reelection to a full, two-year term in November.

Each candidate filed nomination papers on April 25. They then had to submit 50 signatures from registered town voters by Tuesday. Those signatures will be verified by the Board of Canvassers.

Shippee, 67, resigned three months into his 12th year on the council. The former council president and former chief of the Foster Center Fire Company has said he stepped down because his inquiries and recommendations about the Department of Public Works were ignored by the council leadership.

Hawes, 77, of 33A Cucumber Hill Rd., is a retired postman. He is a member of the town Democratic Party and is its endorsed candidate. He served on the Town Charter commission in the early 1980s. This is his first run for public office.

Married with four grown children, Hawes, 57, said he was asked by fellow Democrats to run for the vacant seat. He says he has not ruled out seeking reelection in November.

“The present council is doing a good job and I hope to continue that until the end of the term,” he said.

Rogers, 43, of Cucumber Hill Rd., is the vice chairman of the town Republican Party and is its endorsed candidate. He ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2006. He is married to Heidi W. Rogers, a former council president.

Rogers is the owner of GTH Bobcat Services, of Foster, and the former Rogers Dairy Farm. He is a lieutenant in the Moosup Valley Fire Department and the town Ambulance Corps. He is also a private in the South Foster Fire Company and served on the town’s Economic Development Advisory Committee from 2003 to 2006.

Rogers said he “fully intends” to run again in November. He says he has a “proven record” of being an “outspoken” resident at council meetings. “In five years, I’ve missed just two council meetings. That shows my commitment,” he said. “I’m not coming from the sidelines.”

Vorro, 36, of 23 Balcom Rd., was unavailable for comment yesterday. A Ponaganset High School graduate, he ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2002 as an independent, according to Journal records.

pmarcelo@projo.com