Election Update

Above: An update on who is and isn’t running for Town offices. (image of logo from the old Town website)

I recently wrote a post about the role of Town Meeting as our government’s legislative branch. I should also point out that our executive branch is run by the boards and officers directly elected by voters through the Town Election. (There are also high ranking town staff and important appointed boards. But they all report to an elected officer/board.)

Since I know that some residents are more comfortable running for an open seat than against an incumbent, I’m sharing an update on who is and isn’t running for re-election this year. I also have news on a potential race brewing.

If you’re interested in running for a Southborough Town Office, candidates can pull papers until Friday, March 20th.

The deadline to file papers with enough signatures¹ is Tuesday, March 24th. (You can find the full election paperwork schedule here.)

Last week, I posted about the seats that are on the ballot for the May 12th election. Since then, I reached out to the incumbents about their plans, and a fair number got back to me. I also checked in to see who has pulled papers.

Here’s the status as of this morning.

Select Board

Al Hamilton announced that he won’t run for re-election to the Select Board. Fellow member Marguerite Landry will run for re-election, and two others also pulled papers.

Sam Stivers, who narrowly lost his re-election last year, filed his papers to run for the seat again. (That’s in addition to running for re-election to the Board of Commissioners of Trust Funds.)

And Andrew Pfaff, a member of Advisory Committee (and former Chair), also pulled papers for the seat.

School Committees

After 15 years serving on the Regional School Committee, Paul Desmond will not be running for re-election. (No word yet on fellow Southborough member John Wysocki.)

After a one year term on the Southborough School Committee, rather than seeking re-election, Denise Eddy is running for the Regional committee.

For the two seats on the Southborough School Committee, current Chair Chelsea Malinowski pulled papers to run for re-election. Kelly Conklin also pulled papers to run. She recently served on the PreK-8 School Building Committee.

Housing Authority

Robert Braccio informed me that he is attending paramedic school and won’t be running for re-election. So far, no one has pulled papers.

Other confirmed re-election runs

Others who confirmed their re-election plans, and/or pulled papers are:

• Board of Assessors – Tammi Rice 
• Board of Commissioners of Trust Funds – Sam Stivers
• Board of Trustees Southborough Library – Jane Davis & Amy Yazdani
• Moderator – Paul Cimino
• Town Clerk – Jim Hegarty

I’ll be keeping tabs on potential races and vacancies and updating you as the season progresses. In the meantime, if you want to check the latest status for who has pulled or filed papers, visit the Town Clerk’s election page here.

Reminder — If you have questions about the responsibilities for each board, you can find information here. For many of the boards/committees, you can also view/stream their recent meetings. (For details on viewing options, see my notes at the bottom of my regular Week in Government posts.)

1. Based on the formula, until the next Gubernatorial election, the minimum number of registered Southborough voters’ signatures is technically 48. But the Town Clerk’s office always advises to get at least 60, in case there is an issue with any names/addresses not matching the registration list.