A former television journalist has won a seat on the Select Board in Natick

Tom Benoit, MetroWest Daily News
·2 min read

NATICK — Kristen Pope, a former television journalist who now owns a video production company, is the newest member of the Natick Select Board.

Pope was the top vote-getter in a four-way race for two spots on the board, collecting 2,521 votes in Tuesday's annual town election. Her win comes three years after she mounted an unsuccessful write-in campaign for Town Meeting rep.

Richard Sidney, who won a special election last September to fill out the term of Karen Adelman-Foster, who resigned after moving out of town, took the second seat with 1,751 votes.

Pope
Pope
Sidney
Sidney

The two other candidates were Kat Monahan (937 votes) and Roger Scott (520 votes).

Matt Brand (1,745 votes) and Kate Flathers (1,710) are the newest members of the seven-member School Committee. They defeated incumbent Donna McKenzie (1,301 votes) and L. Preston Hallisey (1,120 votes) for the two spots.

Six candidates contended for five library trustee seats. Taking spots were Carol Gloff (2,071 votes), Kathleen Donovan (1,899 votes), Sally McCoubrey (1,728 votes), Gerald Mazor (1,606 votes) and Anna McMahan (1,330 votes). Finishing out of the money was Thomas Hourihan (1,200 votes).

Voters also considered a ballot question on whether to make the position of town clerk appointed, rather than elected. More than two-thirds (2,145 to 1,015) of those casting ballots opted to make the position appointed.

Many other races were unopposed. Winners included Teresa Evans (Planning Board); Barbara Fahey Sanchez (Recreation and Parks Commission); Karla Hope Sangrey (Board of Health); Wendy Curran-Elassy (Board of Assessors); David Ciminelli (Housing authority); and several Town Meeting rep seats.

The Town Clerk's Office reported that 3,438 ballots were cast, about 14% of Natick's 24,357 registered voters.

All results are unofficial until they are certified by the Secretary of State's Office.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Kristen Pope Richard Sidney win Select Board seats in Natick