By Charles Stannard
CHESTER— Town Democrats have selected a 21-member Democratic town Committee for the 2010-2012 term, leaving four spots open for other interested Democrats.
The committee, which includes three new members, was selected at a caucus Wednesday. The reorganization comes after an unsuccessful campaign for local Democrats in last years’s town election, with Republican First Selectman Tom Marsh defeating Democratic challenger Charles “Chuck” Della Rocco on a 758-465 vote.
Members continuing from the 2008-2010 committee include Samuel Chorches, Lori Ann Clymas, Della Rocco, Lawrence Dibernardo, Kristina Finnerty, Elaine Fitzgibbons, former First Selectman Martin Heft, Charlene Janecek, Henry Krempel, Justin Kronhelm, Emily Masters, James Miller, Michael Peck, Isaac Ruiz, Sandy Senior-Dauer, Selectman Lawrence Sypher, former Selectman Peter Zanardi, and Kurt Ziemann. New members are Robert Gordon, Priscilla Robinson, and John Yrchik.
Members leaving the committee, including some who left their seats earlier in the two-year term, include Elaine Coleman, Karli Gilbertson, Justin Good, John Iviney Jr., Rita Michelson, Patricia Pendergast, James Pinno, and William Ziegler.
We’ll have more details on local Democratic and Republican town committee elections later this week and next.
By: Charles Stannard
CHESTER— A recount conducted Monday has confirmed that Republican Pamela Christman was elected to the town’s Region 4 Board of Education seat over Democrat Lori Ann Clymas.
The recount produced no change from the result recorded last week on election night, with Christman receiving 585 votes to 579 votes for Clymas. Christman, who joins the nine-member regional school board, had been serving as chairwoman of the Chester Board of Education.
In an election related correction, John DeLaura Jr., elected to the zoning board of appeals last week, is a Democrat. A report of election results incorrectly listed him as a Republican.
Polls on the second floor of town hall will be open again Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m,. for the referendum on bonding up to $1 million for the town acquisition of a 4.6-acre parcel on Parker’s Point Road. A combination of grants and a donation will cover about half of the purchase price for the parcel, with the town actually expected to bond $455,00 over ten years for the purchase. All five referendum ballot questiions, including three questions on acceptance of the grants and donation, must pass for the purchase to receive final voter approval.
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.
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.
