SOUTHWICK – Just as Southwick Town Clerk Michelle Hill predicted, turnout was very low for the town election yesterday.
Just 278 of the town’s 6,450 registered voters – or 4.31 percent – cast their vote.
A largely uncontested election conributed to the low numbers, with just one actual race on the ballot for Park and Recreation Commission. Jeanne Reed Waldron won a one-year term on the Southwick Park and Recreation Commission over opponent Jocelyn Linnekin.
Waldron received 175 votes to Linnekin’s 83 votes.
All 13 of the other races on the ballot were uncontested, and won by the people whose names were on the ballot. In many cases, blank ballots widely outnumbered the write-in votes.
Incumbent Russell S. Fox retained his seat on the Board of Selectmen, as did School Committee members Jeffrey T. Houle and Jean Marie McGivney-Burelle. David R. Recoulle was elected as an assessor, and Roy M. Benson earned a three-year set on the Cemetery Commission.
Gene H. Theroux was re-elected to the Dickinson School Trust, which is a three-year term.
Water Commissioner Luther F. Hosmer retained his seat on the Water Commission for three years, while fellow commissioner David Brian Meczywor took the one-year seat.
Library Trustee Michael J.McMahon and Nancy M. Zdun will serve three-year terms, and David Howard Sutton was elected to a five-year term on the Planning Board. Emily Susan Brzoska was re-election to a three-year term on the Board of Health, Elizabeth G. Malone earned a five-year term on the Housing Authority, and longtime moderator James Putnam II was re-elected as the Town Moderator for a three-year term.
