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Date: 4/17/2023
SOUTH HADLEY — Voters in South Hadley came out to the polls inside of South Hadley High School for their annual town election on April 11 where familiar faces and a select few of new ones were voted into the town’s government.
According to the unofficial results from this year’s town election, a total of 2,166 South Hadley voters cast ballots resulting in a turnout of 17%. In the 2022 Town Election, only 5.3% of voters casted a ballot which was one of the lowest showings on record for the town.
In the race for School Committee incumbent Lynda Pickbourn Smith was overwhelmingly reelected on the committee in one of the two open seats for three-year terms. Daniel Vieu was elected to the other three-year term on the ballot with 332 write-in votes.
In filling the vacant one-year term seat on the committee, Lawrence Dixon was elected for the position. Dixon will be filling the seat opened following interim School Committee member Kyle Belanger was not seeking reelection after rejoining the role to help fill the vacancy into this election.
The Selectboard race saw incumbent Andrea Miles and interim member Nicole Casolari both winning in uncontested races. Casolari joined the Selectboard after a special election last November to fill the vacant seat following the death of previous board member Sarah Etelman.
Etelman’s passing created a vacancy on the board and instead of leaving the seat open until its expiration with this year’s town election, the board chose to have the special election to replace the seat for the remainder of the term.
“The town, the community, it really means a lot to me,” Casolari told Reminder Publishing after being elected to fill the remainder of the vacant role. She added at the time she already was planning on running for a full term come town election season.
Casolari has previous experience in multiple town departments and working with boards and is a teacher at South Hadley High School. Miles is a veteran of the Selectboard and this reelection will mark the start of her third term on the body. Miles has been a leader on the board over the course of her tenure, including previously serving as board chair before now being vice chair.
In the sole contested election, incumbent library trustees David Morrell, Susan Obremski-Crowther and Gillian Woldorf retained their seats after beating challenger Anne Moore. According to unofficial results, Obremski-Crowther received the most votes with 1,548 while Woldorf and Morell received 1,393 and 1,378 respectively.
Planning Board incumbents Diane Mulvaney and Nathan Therien were both reelected in uncontested races for new three-year terms. In the race for Board of Health, Gerald Judge and Karen Pio were both reelected for three-year terms while voters chose Kevin Taugher for a three-year term on the Board of Assessors.
The Municipal Light Board race saw incumbent John Hine reelected for another three-year term and also saw write-in votes elect Ronald Coutu for a one-year term on the board.
In the Fire Districts within South Hadley, the Fire District No. 1 election saw challenger Kari Scytkowski win against incumbent clerk/treasurer Terie Fleury. Scytkowski received 440 votes to Fleury’s 246. In the same district, Edward Wall was elected moderator, John Wojciechowski won a three-year seat on the Prudential Committee, and Eden DuPerier took the three-year seat on the board of water commissioners.
In Fire District No. 2, Carlene Hamlin was elected as moderator, Robert Bak and John Moriarty took the three-year and one-year seats on the Prudential Committee, and Adam Hogan was elected water commissioner.
To review the 2023 annual town election unofficial results including Town Meeting precinct representative races, you can visit southhadley.org.