REGION - Elections were recently held in the towns of Brimfield, Holland and Wales and voters made their feelings known, for positions on the board of selectmen, school committee, highway surveyor and a proposed regionalization of elementary schools for Holland and Wales.
Turnout in Wales on May 25 and Holland on June 7 was relatively high for a local election, with 458 voters (or 36 percent) arriving in the former and 540 (or just under 30 percent) casting their ballots in the latter.
Holland approved the concept of regionalization of their schools by a vote of 289 to 181. However, Wales defeated it resoundingly at the May 19 annual town meeting by a vote of 101 to 54.
The push for the regionalization of the towns’ elementary schools – whose students join counterparts from Sturbridge, Brookfield and Brimfield upon advancing from sixth grade - began in earnest a few years ago, in the hopes that funds for construction of a combined school would come in part through assistance from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). However, regional officials learned that purportedly due to a heavy backlog of building and renovation projects, not to mention the depressed economy, they were several years away from getting money from the state. Nevertheless, a regionalization committee continued to meet, and came forward with a proposed agreement for the two communities that would have utilized Wales’ school space for kindergarten through second graders and Holland’s space for grades 3 to 6.
“It seems to me it was a pooling of resources that would have resulted in cost savings in both towns,” said Steven Anderstrom, chairman of the Holland School Committee. “It does seem to be open-ended with a split decision, and hopefully we’ll get back into talking about regionalization in the fall.”
However Wales Selectman Michael Valanzola – who himself won reelection in May and sat in on a number of regionalization meetings – said he believed voters in Wales were discouraged by the apparent lack of state money available, and did not want to give up local autonomy in the meantime.
Current enrollment in Wales Elementary School stands at around 150 students, while Holland Elementary School currently teaches 219.
Meanwhile in Holland’s other contested races, Michael Kennedy, a former member of the school committee and finance committee, defeated former constable and Holland Board of Health member Raymond Korny by a vote of 282 to 231 for a three-year term on the board of selectmen; incumbent Highway Surveyor Brian Johnson easily won reelection over rival George Carling by a vote of 359 to 175; and Tax Collector Nancy Talbot edged challenger and Holland Planning Board Chairwoman Lynn Arnold by a tally of 278 to 235.
In Wales, incumbent Valanzola defeated challenger Lynne Serrenho by a tally of 346 to 110 for a three-year term; incumbent Wales School Committee member Edward Boyce won over challenger Eric Esiason by a vote of 251 to 176 for a three-year term; and Christine Randall won a write-in campaign for the another three-year position on the school committee with 65 votes to 31 for Boyce and 14 for Esiason.
Brimfield voters faced only one contested race (that of incumbent town moderator Michael Miller against town resident Ian Lynch) and thus only 330 voters, or about 13 percent of nearly 2,500 so registered made the trip to the polls on June 7. Miller defeated his opponent in a close vote, 158 to 146.
Brimfield Town Clerk Pamela Beall said this week she has received no requests for a recount, and such a measure would be unlikely to overturn the 12-vote differential, in any case.
As for Miller, he said he was gratified with the results. He said this coming year would be his 13th year as a town moderator, with nine years in Sturbridge and now four in Brimfield.
“We’ll try to meet as a group with myself, the selectmen, finance committee and town counsel to make sure future meetings go smoothly, though I’m not aware of any requests for a special town meeting just yet,” he said. “I’m just happy to be returning to my position again.”