Piekarski The Only Candidate For Harwich Select Board

HARWICH – Former selectman Peter Piekarski is the only candidate in Tuesday’s special election to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of select board member Mary Anderson in October. He will serve for 43 days, until the May 21 annual town election.

The polls at the community center will be open for the special election from noon to 6 p.m. on April 9.

Piekarski is also the only candidate running for the select board seat in the annual town election.

There will be two contested races on the annual election ballot. Bre Rose and Ann Marie Varella are running for the three-year term on the Monomoy Regional School Committee. Both filed nomination papers with the town clerk’s office for certification by Tuesday’s deadline. Longtime regional school committee member Terry Russell will not be seeking re-election.

Four candidates are also seeking the three seats for three-year terms on the Brooks Free Library trustees. They are incumbents Joan McCarty and Jeannie Wheeler and candidates Lynn Budell and Patricia Murray.

Select board members initially decided not to call a special election upon receiving Anderson’s resignation in October. Shortly thereafter, resident Patrick Otton submitted a petition to hold a special election.

But Town Clerk Emily Mitchell said a special election would interfere with the March 5 presidential primary. The select board then set the special election for April 9. Two candidates, Leo Cakounes and Piekarski, initially took out nomination papers. Cakounes decided not to file his nomination papers, leaving Piekarski as the only candidate on the ballot.

Piekarski is also the only candidate for the three-year term on the select board on the May 21 annual town ballot. He was the only candidate to take out papers by the March 29 deadline and returned the papers with the necessary signatures.

Piekarski lost the 2023 race for select board to incumbent Donald Howell by three votes.

Incumbent Water Wastewater Commissioners Gary Carreiro and Noreen Donahue will be seeking re-election to three-year terms. Longtime Moderator Michael Ford is also seeking another three-year term, and Housing Authority member Arthur Bodin is running for a five-year term.

The annual election will be held on Tuesday, May 21 at the community center, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.