Election results: Andover, Cavendish, Chester, Grafton, Weston, GM District budget

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Residents in area towns made some big changes and rejected others as Town Meeting 2023 unfolded. Chester voters chose two new select board members out of a field of five — Arianna Knapp and Peter Hudkins — and gave that body the power to appoint the town clerk and treasurer while Andover residents voted out a long-time representative to area school boards. An overview of local election results follows. Note that all election results are preliminary until they can be checked and certified by local election officials.

Andover

In a changing of the guard, longtime school board member and chair of the Green Mountain Unified School District board Joe Fromberger lost to challenger Scott Kendall 36 to 45. The district board will reorganize under a new chair on Thursday, March 16. The town also approved its first $1 million budget and re-elected the sitting select board members who came on the board after two resignations in  early 2022. Voters also re-elected Jeanette Haight as Town Clerk and Treasurer, changed the Lister positions from elected to appointed and ended the tradition of holding its annual meeting on the Saturday before Vermont’s Town Meeting Day. Next year’s meeting will be held on Monday March 4, but save the whole day since the time of the meeting was not decided. See the full story here.

Cavendish

With none of the town office races being contested, it was a pretty quiet election in Cavendish. Select Board members Bob Glidden and Stephen Plunkard were returned to office and Shannon Devereux will take a one-year seat replacing Sandra Russo, who stepped down. Voters also are sending Kate Lamphere to represent them on the Green Mountain school board to replace Julia Gignoux.  And Cavendish residents approved the $1.95 million budget – up nearly 11 percent over last year – by a vote of 146 – 23.  Read the Cavendish Town Meeting story here.

Chester

With incumbents Leigh Dakin and Ben Whalen stepping down from the Select Board, voters had a slate of five candidates to chose from. Out of 438 votes cast, they chose Peter Hudkins with 245 votes and Arianna Knapp with 194. Ironically, the largest vote tallies of any candidate on Tuesday – 406 and 404 – went to Debbie Aldrich for Town Clerk and Town Treasurer. At Monday’s Town Meeting voters gave the power to appoint the positions to the Select Board. Aldrich may be Chester’s last elected Town Clerk. Click here to read about Monday’s Town Meeting and a short interview with Aldrich.

Members of the Whiting Library Board who were appointed to their roles after six of seven members resigned last year were officially elected by voters. They include Matthew Gorsky, Lora Cokolat, Jesse Bailey, Sam Comstock and Bill Dakin. Voters also approved two bond issues by large margins and the $3.7 million town budget by a unanimous voice vote on Monday night.

Grafton

As in Chester, the largest vote totals (122) went to Town Clerk/Treasurer Kim Record while Select Board members Joe Pollio and Seth Pajic hauled down 89 and 109 respectively. School votes took up most of the voters’ attention and lots of paper. Nine articles from the Union High School 27 and seven from the Windham Northeast School District passed by wide margins and the four candidates for school directors from Grafton and Athens who ran unopposed all won despite a flurry of write-ins.

Weston

Voters in Weston approved all of the measures on the town’s warning except one. By a voice vote, they turned down the article to eliminate the office of Constable and returned Syd Straw Harris to that position. Denis Benson and Lisa Yrsha were won reelection to the Select Board and the voters approved a $662,298 municipal budget.

Green Mountain Unified School District

Despite a large increase due to inflation and the need to handle maintenance issues that were intended to be addressed by a bond issue that was voted down in the fall, voters in Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester overwhelmingly approved the district’s $15 million budget by a vote of 415 to 302.