MONTAGUE — Nathanael Card Schiffbauer has secured a three-year term on the Selectboard, having received 413 votes in Tuesday’s town election.
Schiffbauer, 41, who goes by Nate Card, beat out 253 Farmacy Chief Operating Officer John Snyder, who earned 234 votes. Seven hundred and four ballots were cast, making for a 9.62% turnout, with the largest portion of voters (215 ballots) coming from Precinct 1.
Card is a senior resilience planner at Regenerative Design Group, based in Greenfield. Though he had wanted to seek elected office for some time, he said he decided it was time to run for Selectboard after learning that no one had pulled nomination papers for the seat being vacated by Matthew Lord, who joined the board in September 2020.
“I am honored and humbled to be chosen to serve all of Montague’s residents for the next three years,” Card said in a statement on Wednesday. “My invitation to talk about and invest in our town’s future extends to all, whether someone voted for me or not. We are diverse in our values, but common ground is out there, and I want to live in a town which comes together in tough times, not one divided by differences. Onward, together.”
Outside of the contested race for Selectboard, the other contested race for three seats as library trustees with three-year terms saw all three incumbents reelected: Lydia Ievins with 473 votes, James Martineau with 435 votes and Miryam Vesset with 464 votes. The fourth candidate, newcomer Cara Hins, earned 244 votes.
Other results include:
- Assessor, three-year term — Rebecca Jane Sabelawski, 568 votes.
- Board of Health, three-year term — Michael Mark Nelson, 581 votes.
- Moderator, one-year term — Elizabeth Margaret Irving, 577 votes.
- Parks & Recreation Commission, three-year term — Jeffrey C. Singleton, 560 votes.
- Soldiers memorial trustee, non-veteran, three-year term — Jeffrey C. Singleton, 524 votes.
The positions that were run by write-in candidates — including a veteran position as soldiers memorial trustee with a three-year term, a five-year seat on the Montague Housing Authority and a two-year term as library trustee, are still being finalized, Town Clerk Wendy Bogusz said Wednesday.
Additionally, Bogusz shared the Montague votes for the Gill-Montague Regional School District School Committee candidates. For the Montague seats, incumbent Clifford Spatcher received 471 votes for another three-year term, and newcomer Sue Ann Richardson earned 459 votes. For the Gill seat, incumbent William Tomb earned 509 votes.
The final results of the School Committee races will be available after tallies from both Montague and Gill are combined.
Montague voters will return to the polls on Wednesday, June 24, for a debt-exclusion vote on the proposed new library at 38 Avenue A.
