Westminster ousts incumbents from Planning Board; Board of Health write-in race decided
WESTMINSTER ― Tuesday's annual town election featured two contested seats on the Planning Board and a write-in race for the Board of Health. All other seats were uncontested.
According to Town Clerk Ellen Sheehan's unofficial results, the two incumbents seeking re-election were ousted and John Lutz was elected to the Board of Health.
The day after the election, Planning Board chairman Gregg Buckman resigned with two years left on his term. Buckman said that he resigned for personal reasons.
Planning Board & Board of Health races
Top vote getter in the four-way race for two seats on the Planning Board was challenger Isaiah Grigos, with 477 votes. Michael Ferris, also a challenger, was second with 325 votes. Incumbent vice-chair Marie N. Auger and incumbent member Dan Bartkus were third and fourth, with 307 and 275 votes, respectively.
Three residents: John Lutz, Gwen Farley and Evan Croft, received votes for the open seat on the Board of Health. Lutz was the top vote getter with 180 votes, followed by Farley with 162 and Croft with 8 votes.
Candidates' comments
Ferris said his decision to run for vice-chair of the town's planning board was because he saw that the previous Planning Board was not listening to residents. He said he is grateful that his fellow Westminster residents voted him to represent them in local government.
"I want to do my part, support other people, be a candidate that will listen to them and be available to all residents," he said. "I really want to promote their interest and drive their initiatives, the way they want them to run."
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Ballot questions
Voters also had two non-binding questions on the ballot. Both questions were asking what town officials should do with the old town hall building at 3 Bacon St. Currently, the town's municipal light, water and sewer departments reside in the building.
Question one, which asked if town officials should retain the property and restore it, resulted in 395 votes for yes and 319 voted no. Question two, which asked if town officials to sell the property with historical preservation restrictions, resulted in 384 votes for yes and 336 voted for no.
Town Administrator, Stephanie Lahtinen said the public has mixed opinions whether or not the town should restore the building and keep the property or sell it to a private buyer with historic conservation limits.
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In 2006, town staff moved out of the old town hall building and into the current building at 11 South St. Several reuse committees have been established over the past 17 years and many public surveys have been conducted by the committees, but no solid plans have been confirmed.
A request for proposal has been reissued three times in the past two decades to sell the historic property start a bid at $1 but either no one put a bid or the town select board rejected all bids.
After the most recent RFP in 2021, the town select board rejected all proposed bids because they determined the town's voters should have a say in what happens to the property. The select board voted to put two questions in the next annual election ballot.
Now the future of the old town hall building has been returned to the select board. What will happen to the historic building is not part of the upcoming annual town meeting warrant, Saturday, May 6.
Only 12% of Westminster residents eligible to vote took to the ballot box on Tuesday, April 25.
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Westminster town election results: Planning Board incumbents ousted
