By: Charles Stannard
CHESTER— Republican First Selectman Tom Marsh was re-elected for a third term Tuesday, defeating Democratic challenger Chuck Della Rocco on a vote of 757-465.
Marsh’s running-mate, Republican Tom Englert and Democrat Lawrence Sypher also won seats on the board. Englert received 653 votes, with 549 votes for Sypher. Englert replaces six-term Republican Selectman Bruce Watrous, who did not seek re-election. Sypher replaces Democratic Selectman Martin Heft, who also stepped aside this year. The new board takes office on Nov. 17.
Marsh had unseated Heft, who had held the top job since 1993, by a narrow 30-vote margin in 2005. Marsh won a second term in 2007, defeating Democrat Justin Good on an 858-493 vote. Check Localonlinenews.tv Wednesday for results of other races on the Chester ballot.
By: Charles Stannard
CHESTER— Town Democrats Tuesday nominated Chuck Della Rocco for First Selectman on a ticket with former finance board and planning and zoning commission member Lawrence Sypher as the candidate for Board of Selectman.
Della Rocco, a former Old Saybrook police officer and current member of the local school board, was nominated on a unanimous voice vote of about 30 Democrats gathered at the Chester Meeting House. Sypher, a lifelong resident, runs a local internet technology consulting business called Sydell Associates. He replaces former First Selectman and incumbent Selectman Martin Heft as the party’s candidate for Board of Selectmen.
Della Rocco and Sypher will face off in the Nov. 3 town election against two term Republican First Selectman Tom Marsh and Tom Englert, the new Republican nominee for board of selectmen. Marsh and Englert were nominated at the Republican caucus last week.
Della Rocco, an Old Saybrook native who moved to Chester in 2002, said he began considering a run for the town’s top office last year. Della Rocco, a former U.S. Army military police officer during the 1989 Panama intervention and the 1991 Persian Gulf War, served on the Old Saybrook Police Department from 1994 to 2007 and currently works as a Judicial Branch police officer at the state Library/Supreme Court building in Hartford. Della Rocco said his campaign theme would be “respect the past-build the future.”
Democrats joined Republicans in cross-endorsing three town hall incumbents for new terms, Town Clerk Debra Germini Calamari, Town Treasurer Elizabeth Netsch, and Tax Collector Madaline Meyer. Netsch is a Democrat, Calamari and Meyer are unaffiliated voters.
Democrats nominated Lori Ann Clymas, the party’s unsuccessful 2005 candidate for board of selectmen, for the Region 4 Board of Education . Democrats nominated Jennifer Rannestad and Gary Clark for six-year terms on the Board of Finance, with incumbents David Cohen nominated for a four-year term and Virginia Carmany nominated for a two-year term on the finance board. Incumbent Edward Meehan, a former member and chairman of the finance board, was nominated for a new term as board of finance alternate.
Incumbent Errol Horner, Charles Vaccaro, and Keith Scherber were nominated for six-year terms on the Planning and Zoning Commission. Incumbent Sally Murray was nominated for a two year term on the planning and zoning commission, with Stephen Sepowski and Louis DesJardins, both unaffiliated voters, nominated for Planning and Zoning Commission alternates.
Amy Safran, Lianne Rutty, and Marjorie Della Rocco were nominated for the local Board of Education that supervises the operation of Chester Elementary School. Eileen Sypher was nominated for a two-year term on the local Board of Education.
Incumbent John DeLaura and Michael Desnoyers were nominated for Zoning Board of Appeals. Incumbent Justin Kronholm and Robert Gorman were nominated for ZBA alternates.
John Bellows and Elizabeth Gourlay were nominated for full four-year terms on the inland-wetlands commission. Incumbent Peter DeLisa and Caryl Horner were nominated for two-year terms on the IWC.
Incumbent Edward Ward, Samuel Chorches, and Albert Armington were nominated for four-year terms on the water pollution control authority, with incumbent James Pease nominated for a two-year term on the WPCA. Ward, a Democrat who currentlly serves as WPCA chairman, and Pease, a Republican, were also endorsed for new terms last week by town Republicans.
Incumbents Sandy Senior Dauer and Barbara Standke were nominated for new terms on the library board of trustees, with incumbent Dudley Clark Jr. nominated for a new term on the Board of Assessment Appeals.
Heft noted that Democrats had nominated a full slate for all positions on the town’s lengthy ballot, “for the first time in anyone’s memory.” He also announced that Clymas and former Selectman Peter Zanardi would serve as co-chairs of the Democratic campaign.
Clymas and Zanardi, at the time a two-term incumbent, had competed at the party’s 2005 caucus for the nomination for board of selectmen. Clymas defeated Zanardi at the contested caucus that may have set the stage for six-term incumbent Heft’s narrow 30-vote loss to Marsh in the 2005 town election. Marsh defeated Democrat Justin Good to win a second term in 2007.
