Recount Set for Chester Region 4 Seat as Marsh Wins Third Term
By Charles Stannard
CHESTER— A recount is set for Monday in a close race for the Region 4 Board of Education seat after a municipal election that brought Republican First Selectman Tom Marsh a third term in the top job.
In the Region 4 race, Republican Pamela Christman, who currently chairs the local board of education, led Democrat Lori Ann Clymas by a vote of 585-579, a six-vote difference that requires a recount. Town Clerk Debra Calamari said Wednesday the recount would be conducted Monday at 9 a.m.
Marsh won a third term Tuesday over Democrat Chuck Della Rocco on a 758- 465 vote. Repubo8ican Tom Englert, with 655 votes, and Democrat Lawrence Sypher, with 549 votes, won seats on the board of selectmen. Just under half of the town’s2,563 registered voters cast ballots Tuesday.
Winners for the board of finance were mixed, Republican Joyce Alley and Democrat Jennifer Rannestad each won seats. Incumbent David Cohen was unopposed, and incumbent Democrat Virginia Carmany won a two-year vacancy term over Republican James Bisaccia on a 596-521 vote.
All candidates for the Chester Board of Education will be seated, including Democrats Amy Safran, Lianne Rutty, Majorie Della Rocco, and Eileen Sypher, Republicans Ashley Marsh and Carol Johnson, and Common Ground Party candidate Margaret Reyer. The top vote-getter was Rutty, with 697 votes.
Republican Steven Merola, and Democrats Errol Horner and Keith Sherber were elected to full terms on the planning and zoning commission, with Democrat Michael Joplin, the panel’s current chairman, elected for a two-year vacancy term. Common Ground Party candidate Lynne Fredriskson, Democrat Louis Desjardins, and Republican Stephen Sepowski were elected as planning and zoning commission alternates.
Democrat Michael Desnoyers and Republican John DeLaura Jr. were elected to the zoning board of appeals, with Democrats Robert Gorman and Justin Kronhelm elected as ZBA alternates. Democrat Dudley Clark Jr. was elected to the board of assessment appeals.
Democrats John Bellows and Elizabeth Gourlay were elected to full terms on the inland-wetlands commissioin, with Caryl Horner and Peter DeLisa elected to two-year vacancy terms on the panel.
