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Date: 7/27/2023
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Daniel O’Brien’s switch to the at-large race means there will be six candidates for the five at-large seats on the Town Council and no contested races for district councilors this fall.
Also on the November ballot, there will be seven candidates for the six available seats on the West Springfield School Committee, according to Town Clerk Otto Frizzell. The nomination period for the town election closed on July 18.
Incumbent at-large councilors Brian Clune, Brian Griffin, Sean Powers and Jaime Smith qualified for the ballot, as did challenger Elisa Olivo. O’Brien, who is currently the District 4 councilor, also was nominated as an at-large councilor.
Frederick Connor, who had initially taken out nomination papers for at-large councilor, will instead be the only candidate for the seat O’Brien is leaving in District 4, which comprises precincts 7 and 8 on the north side of town. The other three districts also have just one candidate apiece: incumbent councilors Michael LaFlamme in District 2 (precincts 3-4, including the Mittineague area and north of downtown) and Anthony DiStefano in District 3 (precincts 5-6, Tatham and other western neighborhoods), and William Forfa in District 1 (precincts 1-2, covering the downtown-Merrick-Memorial area), a seat for which he had run unsuccessfully in 2019.
On the School Committee, incumbents Kathleen Alevras, Diana Coyne, Colleen Marcus and Kira Thompson were all nominated for reelection, and will be joined on the Nov. 7 ballot by midterm appointee Robert Mancini and challengers Mustafa Thompson and Julia Wise.
The town clerk will conduct a lottery to determine ballot positions on Sept. 13. Town residents who are not yet registered to vote must do so by Oct. 28 to vote in the election. Voting by mail is available, and the town will also have in-person early voting, on a schedule to be determined.
Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 7, at the West Springfield Senior Center (for precincts 1 and 2) and West Springfield High School (for precincts 3-8).
All seats on this year’s ballot are two-year terms; the four-year mayoral term is not up for election this year. The mayor serves ex officio as the School Committee’s chair and seventh voting member.
Three current officeholders opted not to run for reelection in 2023: current Town Council President Edward Sullivan, who had occupied an at-large seat; District 1 Councilor Michael Eger; and School Committee member Nancy Farrell.
With the departure of Sullivan, the Town Council is guaranteed to have a new president when the election winners take office in January.