SHUTESBURY — In a contested race for a three-year seat on the Selectboard, Finance Committee member James Walton Jr. beat out Planning Board associate member Thomas Siefert in a landslide.
At the polls on Saturday, Walton earned 381 votes while Siefert received 147. Walton’s win means he must step down from the Finance Committee after the first year of his three-year term, leaving behind an empty seat.
“I’m going to miss working with them,” Walton said of his Finance Committee colleagues on Monday. “They’re a really good, strong team, so they’re going to continue to do really well.”
Walton will fill the seat held by Rita Farrell, who opted not to seek reelection after serving on the Selectboard for six years.
Upon hearing about his win, Walton said he felt “elated.”
“It’s a good feeling,” Walton said. “I can’t wait to jump in and get to work.”
While campaigning for the Selectboard seat, Walton said he learned from several groups in town about “what’s important to them,” reaffirming his top priority as a Selectboard member, which is to ease the tax burden for residents.
“The squeeze that we all feel as taxpayers, that squeeze is getting tighter, and that’s going to be our priority is to identify some of the ways to take that pressure off,” he said.
Along with hearing residents’ concerns, Walton said the campaigning process “reaffirmed” for him residents’ commitment to improving their town — the same dedication that powered the creation of municipal broadband and a new library, Walton said.
“We’re going to use that same kind of chemistry and expertise to solve our tax challenges,” Walton said. “I’ve got my marching orders of what’s important, and I’m looking forward to working with the town to address those.”
Other election results
Five hundred and forty residents, or 34.6% of registered voters in town, cast their ballots in Saturday’s town election. Of the 540 voters, 425 voted in person at Shutesbury Elementary School, while the remaining 115 voted early, electing the following town officials:
- Board of Health, two seats with three-year terms — Claire Pless, 430 votes, and Garrett Simonsen, 421 votes.
- Library trustees, two seats with three-year terms — Elizabeth Murphy, 428 votes, and Anne Graham, 422 votes.
- Cemetery Commission, three-year term — Walter Tibbetts, 477 votes.
- Constable — Walter Tibbetts, write-in candidate, 5 votes.
- Municipal Light Plant Board, three-year term — Andrew Reagan, 436 votes.
- Planning Board, two seats with three-year terms — Steven Bressler, 422 votes, and Michael DeChiara, 420 votes. Additionally, Thomas Siefert received 66 write-in votes for a third vacant position that did not have any ballot candidates running.
- School Committee, two seats with three-year terms — Anna Heard, 428 votes, and Megan Lennon, write-in candidate, 35 votes.
- Town clerk — Leslie Bracebridge, write-in candidate, 20 votes.
For the ballot question, residents voted to switch the town clerk’s role from an elected position to an appointed position, with 363 votes in favor of the change and 109 against it. Town Meeting attendees had approved the switch at a Special Town Meeting last fall.
