Doucette And Kelleher Win Select Board Seats; McManus Third By 59 Votes

 HARWICH – There are two newcomers on the select board, with former town clerk Anita Doucette and finance committee member Mark Kelleher winning seats in what was a tight three-way race.

Voters also approved a $35 million debt exclusion to construct the Great Sand Lakes sewer system.

 Doucette was the top vote-getter with 1,210 votes. Kelleher received 1,157 votes, and Katie McManus had 1,098 votes. Doucette and Kelleher will be replacing select board members Michael MacAskill and Julie Kavanagh, both of whom decided not to seek re-election.

 “The most important thing for the board is getting a new town administrator,” Doucette said Tuesday night. “I’m looking forward to working with Mark (Kelleher), Jeff (Handler), Don (Howell) and Pete (Piekarski) and going in the right direction. My phone has been blowing up. I thank the people who came out to support me today, I’m truly grateful.” 

 Speaking on issues facing the board, Kelleher said Tuesday night that he is looking forward to working with the board on issues such as adjusting the Monomoy Regional School District financial formula, wastewater projects, and where to locate a sewage treatment plant. He also said the board will have to begin working on locating a new town administrator.

 “I want to thank the voters. I met a lot of them in person. I went door-to-door, and got a lot of support. I’m glad they turned out to vote,” Kelleher said.

 With only 59 votes separating him from McManus, Kelleher said, “I give Katie a lot of credit. She did pretty well.”

Town Clerk Emily Mitchell said the votes released an hour after the election were "unofficial,” explaining that the numbers came from the computer tabulation tapes, but there were a few ballots that could not be read by the tabulator because of tears, so they will have to be hand counted. There were also some write-ins that needed to be counted, according to Mitchell.

 In the contested race for Monomoy Regional School Committee, Ryan Edwards won the seat by 13 votes over Ann Marie Verella.

  Edwards will replace Tina Games, who chose not to seek another term on the committee. Edwards received 750 votes to Verella’s 737 votes. Candidate Bretten Fortin received 237 votes for the school committee. 

In the third contested race on the ballot, water/wastewater commission member Judith Underwood won another three-year term with a 1,261-447 vote over challenger Ann Frechette.

 Competition draws voters. Last year, with a single race on the ballot for a seat on the Monomoy Regional School Committee, the voter turnout was only 7 percent, with just 811 voters casting ballots. This year, with races for the two seats on the select board, a seat on the regional school committee and a challenge for the one seat on the water/wastewater commission, 17 percent of those registered, or 2,070 voters, cast ballots.  

The six ballot questions also piqued voter interest this year with a $35 million debt exclusion for the Great Sand Lakes sewer project, and the $9,007,030 debt exclusion for the Monomoy Regional Middle School siding and window renovation project being funded outside the limits of Proposition 2 ½. The school project will cost Harwich votes an estimated $6,918,300 based on the regional funding agreement formula with Chatham.

The funding for the Great Sand Lakes sewer project was approved by a 1,301-656 vote, and the middle school reconstruction project passed by a 1,553-436 vote.

MRMS Building Committee Co-chair Ed McManus said “with this vote along with the Great Sand Lakes vote, folks in the town have sent a clear message not to kick these projects down the road, and I thank the voters for doing that.” 

Another debt exclusion ballot question for $2.4 million for the purchase of a new fire truck and two new ambulances was supported overwhelmingly, 1,433-536.

 Voters approved the ballot question seeking to establish a nine member charter commission to study local government by a 1,397-505 vote. The nine candidates elected to the charter commission are Herbert G. Bell, 1,128 votes; Linda A. Cebula, 1,209 votes; Jonathan P. Chorey, 1,113 votes; Paul V. Doane, 1,246 votes; Sandra B. Hall, 1,207 votes; Antigone J. London, 1,166 votes; Judith A. Underwood, 1,155 votes; Louis Urbano, 1,081 votes; and Richard J. Waystack, 1,398 votes. 

 A second charter commission ballot question confirming changes to the town’s home rule charter, approved in town meeting last year, was also approved on a 1,599-369 vote.

 A non-binding advisory question on the ballot directing local government officials to communicate with state officials about the need to ensure laws are enforced requiring Holtec, owners of Pilgrim Nuclear Station, to immediately cease the discharge of radioactively and chemically contaminated industrial wastewater from the plant in Plymouth, was also overwhelmingly approved on a 1,713-226 vote.

Other candidates not facing a challenge on the ballot and re-elected were Town Clerk Emily Mitchell, who received 1,827 votes; housing authority member Elizabeth Harder, 1,213 votes; and Brooks Library trustees William Crowell, 1,677 votes, and Bernadette Waystack, 1,600 votes.