ADAMS, Mass. — The annual town election saw the return of incumbents to office on Monday, including in the only race on the ballot. 

 

Treasurer/Collector Kelly Rice, who was first elected to complete a vacant term five years ago, posted an overwhelming victory over Paul Nowicki, who had held the post for nearly 20 years in the 1980s and '90s. Rice is now beginning her second three-year term.

 

Rice earned 597 votes to Nowicki's 198, garnering 67 percent of the votes. There were also a handful of blanks and write-ins. 

 

The incumbent and her sisters let out a cheer as the results were announced by Town Clerk Haley Mezcywor at the town garage polling site. 

 

"Nice," is all Rice could say as she took in the results. She'd been at the polls since 7 that morning, only taking time out for lunch. She hadn't been alone, either. "I've got a big family," she laughed. She later added, "thank you to all the voters who believed in me and voted for me, thank you."

 

Also returned to office were Richard Blanchard (593) and Joseph Nowak (693), both for their third terms on the Board of Selectmen. No one ran against them although former board member Donald Sommers had returned papers before withdrawing. 

 

Running unopposed were Myra L. Wilk for moderator (703); Lorraine Kalisz for assessor  (714); James Taylor for cemetery commissioner (689); Peter Hoyt for Board of Health (678); Virginia Phelps (694) and Karen Kettles (675) for two library trustee seats; Michael Mach for Planning Board (660); Joseph Allard (674) for McCann School Committee (Northern Berkshire Regional Vocational School District); Jennifer Gageant (665) for Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee, and town meeting members in each of the five precincts. 

 

Election workers were going through write-in candidates, which were needed for three seats on the Housing Authority (two one-year and a five-year term) and another seat on the Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee. Erica Girgenti, who ran a write-in campaign, was re-elected to the five-year term on the Housing Authority with 86 votes. 

 

Meczywor said she wasn't too disappointed at the turnout, which came out to 13.5 percent. Of the 5,989 registered voters, 810 cast ballots in what was fairly sleepy election with one race and no controversies. 

 

Turnout in 2018 when there was a five-way race for two Board of Selectmen seats was about 19 percent, with 1,131 ballots were cast out of 5,863 voters. 

 

Updated at 4:15 p.m. on May 7 with official tallies.