SOUTHWICK – The Board of Selectmen seat was the big race in this week’s election, but there was one other contested race for the Library Board of Trustees, with three candidates vying for two seats.
Winning the two spots were incumbent Democrat Carol Geryk with 622 votes, and Republican challenger Christopher Grabowski with 604 votes. Grabowski took a seat away from incumbent Nancy Zdun, a Democrat, who received 485 votes.
Grabowski held the same position 14 years ago and said this week he was excited about his victory.
“It is a real pleasure to be back,” said Grabowski. “I will do the best of my ability to serve the town.”
Grabowski has worked in corporate security for 12 years and graduated from Westfield State College in 2006 where he studied criminal justice and political science. He also served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1984-1990 and received an honorable discharge.
Grabowski celebrated his win with friends and said he was grateful to be voted back onto the board.
“Thank you to all the people who voted for me,” he said.
Library Trustee Michael McMahon said the board oversees operations of the Southwick Public Library “at a high level.”
“We don’t decide the day to day operations,” said McMahon. “The professional staff does that.”
The trustees do have a say in hiring of the director and oversee that position. The big part of their job deals with the library budget.
“We work on the budget starting in the fall,” McMahon said, “And a few of us attend the town budget hearings to defend our budget.”
McMahon said the trustees would also have the tough job of deciding where to cut the budget if a large sum was cut.
The Board of Trustees consists of six members.
