Many of last week’s elected candidates were sworn into their respective positions at Town Hall by Manchester Town Clerk Dianne Bucco on Thursday, May 19. From left, Kevin Leach (Constable), Erica Spencer (School Committee), Laura Tenny and Ron Mastrogiacomo (both Planning Board), Cathy Bilotta (Select Board), Anna Lin Mitchell (School Committee), Eden Davies, and Brian Sollosy (Select Board).
The three big drivers in last week’s local Manchester election were the race between five candidates for two seats on the School Committee, regional public safety dispatch, and the race between three candidates for two Select Board seats.
Voter turnout was 35 percent of all registered voters in Manchester. And in the end, for the day’s 1,540 voters, it was the Select Board race that brought the drama.
First timer Catherine Bilotta won a three-year term on the Select Board handily, winning with 1,076 votes.
But in a squeaker, current Select Board Chair Jeffrey Bodmer-Turner lost his seat by the narrowest of margins—just one vote—to Brian Sollosy. Tuesday night’s preliminary counts had Bodmer-Turner up by one vote, but by Wednesday morning, that had flipped. Sollosy won with 700 votes, besting Bodmer-Turner’s who had 699 votes. By Thursday morning, Bodmer-Turner had turned in a formal request with the required signatures to Town Clerk Dianne Bucco for a recount. That process officially begins after a notification period expires on Friday, May 27. The hope is the town’s registrars will compete the recount and the vote certified before Manchester’s Special Town Meeting on June 11. In the meantime, Sollosy was sworn into his position on the Select Board and sat in on his first Select Board meeting this past Tuesday.
Then, in the highly-watched School Committee race, it was Erica Spencer and Anna Lin Mitchell who won seats with 1,042 votes and 718 votes, respectively.
Voters also voted “No” on the non-binding referendum on whether regional public safety dispatch operations, with 854 Manchester voters saying "No" to regional dispatch and 635 saying "Yes." The Select Board will officially take up the issue later this year.
In other election results, incumbents Mary Foley, Ronald Mastrogiacomo, and Laura Tenny all won seats on the Planning Board. Joseph Aiello and David MacDougall won Constable. Eden Davies won Library Trustee. Alan Wilson won Moderator.
Finally, Craige McCoy’s successful write-in campaign for Housing Authority was notable, with McCoy grabbing more than 200 votes.
