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Williamstown Elects Planning BoardBy Tammy Daniels - May 13, 2008
iBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN — Voters sent a mixed message in Tuesday's election, ousting two sitting members of the Planning Board and turning out in low numbers.
Challengers Andrew Hogeland and Anne McCallum won their seats with respectable numbers over their opponents. Chris Winters held onto his seat despite a vigorous campaign by Nicholas H. Wright.
But the turnout was lackluster for an election that may well set the agenda for the Planning Board for some years to come. The other two seats had no challengers, and neither did any of the other offices up for election.
Town Clerk Mary Kennedy said only 968 of the town's 4,573 registered voters cast votes, or 21 percent.
"It's not as big of a turnout as I had hoped for; I believe that if the elections were to choose selectmen, the turn out would have been much higher," she said earlier in the day, after only 600 had voted. Even with another five hours to go, the number didn't crack a thousand.
The turnout may have been indicator that townspeople weren't exactly clamoring for the appointed board to be put on the ballot. The matter had been placed on the town warrant by petition last year after the board had been wracked by several controversial decisions.
It passed by only three votes at a town meeting attended by a couple hundred voters. Hardly a mandate. In fact, within the three races, some 482 votes were blank — nearly half those who voted.
In the race for the four-year seat, Winters polled 642 votes to Nicholas Wright's 279. The two men had kept up a spirited debate in the letters to the editor sections of the local papers in the last days of campaigning. Both also had parked pickups with large signs touting their candidacies in the parking lot at Williamstown Elementary School.
Winters, who had been at the polls since before they opened at 7 a.m., seemed happy it was over. "It's been a long day," he said as he wheeled his two young daughters out of the gym in a red wagon covered with handmade signs.
Anne McCallum, who bested incumbent John Holden 470-422 for the two-year seat was also brief. "It's so pleasant to be elected; is that enough?"
Incumbent George Sarrouf found himself on the outs when his challenger, Hogeland, garnered 521 votes to his 331 for the three-year seat.
"I think it was better the way it was," said Sarrouf, a longtime civic activist and retiree. "Because a few people were pushing an agenda ... this is how they did it, unfortunately."
Earlier in the day, he said he'd "be able to put more heart and dedication into my work if elected" because he had the time. He also had mentioned he might not run again, didn't rule it out after the results were posted. "I would consider it. I would."
"I'm very pleased with the voter turnout and that the weather was great," said Holden earlier in the afternoon. "I didn't actually plan on running, I'm not a politician and if I am to lose this year who knows if I'll run again. We'll just have to wait and see what the next time brings us."
Patrick Dunlavey, who polled 719 votes in his unopposed run for the one-year seat, thought the election worked out all right.
"I think that going forward we'll have a much more proactive bunch of people working together," he said.
The fifth member of the board, Richard DeMayo, won 783 votes for the unopposed five-year seat. Beginning next year, one five-year seat on the board will be up for election.
No other seats were contested; vote totals can be found at the Williamstown Web site by clicking here.
For look at the election earlier Tuesday afternoon, click here.
iBerkshires intern Jenn Atwell contributed to this report. |
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