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Date: 5/23/2023
BELCHERTOWN — The annual Town Election took place on May 15 with openings including two members for Board of Health, a member for the Select Board, a town moderator, a member for the Board of Assessors and one member for the Planning Board.
The only contested race was for School Committee. Heidi Gutekenst, Matthew Jackson and Lamikco Magee were the three candidates running for the two available positions.
Incumbent Gutekenst and Magee won the two open seats with 861 and 754 votes respectively. Jackson received 535 votes.
Gutekenst has served on the School Committee for two terms and said before the election she would like to continue putting in the hard work.
She indicated she is thankful for the voters who put their faith with her again.
Gutekenst said, “I’m glad I have the privilege of serving Belchertown for another three years. I’m proud of work we have accomplished and plan to continue it moving forward. I thank all the voters who came out this year and look forward to continuing on the School Committee.”
Magee has been an educator for over 20 years and added that she has been an advocate of children for even longer than that.
Magee said she has been an educator in Amherst for six years and currently works as a teacher leader and a special education department leader in its middle school.
“I am looking forward to this as a wonderful opportunity to serve the Belchertown community. I am really excited and already attended my first School Committee meeting. The superintendent has been very gracious and I look forward to this to serve the community and to ensure that we keep great schools in Belchertown and our students enjoy learning,” Magee added.
School Committee member Michael Knapp did not run for reelection.
Lesa Lessard Pearson was elected with 799 votes to the Select Board seat being vacated by current Chair Jim Barry, who did not run for reelection.
Even though Pearson was the only name listed on the ballot, Daniel Fitzpatrick ran a write-in campaign but it fell short as he received 334 votes.
Incumbent Ken Elstein and David Gottsegen received 874 and 854 votes, respectively, for the Board of Health.
There were no candidates listed on the ballot for Planning Board, moderator, or Board of Assessors.
Bjorn Markeson was elected to the Planning Board with 294 write-in votes, Benjamin Farrell as moderator with 321 write-in votes, and Loring Caney Jr. to the Board of Assessors with 191 write-in votes.
The voter turnout for this election was 10.82% which is right around average over the last five town elections.
The town election voter turnout from 2022 to 2018 was 12.4%, 10.5%, 7.9%, 8.8% and 12.6% respectively.
Town Clerk Terry Camerlin added, “I find it disappointing to have such a low voter turnout for town elections. Sadly, this is not unusual for Belchertown nor most communities. I have been working very hard to get the word out on upcoming elections via social media, sandwich boards in front of Town Hall as well as the main entrance to Town Hall and media coverage.”
The Select Board did approve early in-person voting as well as vote by mail for the Town Election, but it did not increase the number of voters, according to Camerlin.
Camerlin said, “I am just not sure what else to do to help the community understand how important local elections are, and how they impact their lives here in Belchertown.”