ROWE — Ed Silva is rejoining the Selectboard after winning Saturday’s special election.
Silva received 77 votes, while opponent Wayne Zavotka garnered 54. Write-in candidates Jenna Cusack received two votes and David Dvore received one vote.
With 134 of Rowe’s 320 registered voters casting their ballots, the election saw a 41.8% voter turnout. Saturday’s special election brought in more voters than the annual town election last May, which saw a 32.2% turnout.
Silva previously served two terms on the Selectboard, having been first elected in 2019, and he lost reelection during last spring’s annual town election to Marilyn Wilson (54-45). Wilson resigned from the board in the fall, and Silva will serve the rest of her term. Now that he’s back on the Selectboard, he will be resigning from the Finance Committee.
“I thought we did a lot of great things for the town when I was there,” Silva said in a phone interview on Monday. “Mainly, we were calling balls and strikes, and doing the right things for the taxpayers.”
Silva said the two key topics in town pertain to the potential regionalizations of the fire department and the school system. He said he needs to get his “arms around” both issues and talk with his fellow taxpayers before he takes a stance, although he wishes to better understand the school district’s plan and how it would impact taxpayers. Still, he noted that any decisions on regionalization would ultimately be up to the voters.
Rowe is currently working with the neighboring town of Charlemont to establish a regional fire district, after receiving voter approval at last spring’s Annual Town Meeting. While waiting for state legislators to approve the creation of the district, the towns are looking to hire a new shared fire chief to replace Dennis Annear, who is set to retire in the spring.
The town also recently considered the prospect of school regionalization and joining the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont regional school districts in their single-campus project. However, in a straw poll in December, Rowe residents indicated they were not in favor of joining the two-district sustainability project at this time. Six participants voted in favor of joining, eight participants were opposed and four said they need more information.
Still, school officials may explore other regionalization opportunities in the future. On the Feb. 12 Rowe School Committee agenda is a discussion on “the future of Rowe School.”
Although Selectboard Chair Joanne Semanie endorsed Zavotka for the open seat, Silva said he harbors no hard feelings and is fully confident he can work with his colleagues on the board for the betterment of the town.
“I’m really looking forward to this,” he said. “It should be great.”