Only the position of Town Moderator was challenged in the Tewksbury Town elections today. Incumbent Board of Selectman member Doug Sears and former Board of Selectman member – and former Chair – Jerry Selissen vied for the open position. Selissen was leading Sears in precincts 1/1A, 2/2A and  4/4A  with a count of 631 to 466. When 3/3A finally came in –  the final count saw  Selissen  at a total of 885 votes in a victory over  Sears at a total of 640 (corrected number) .  The turn-out at 1571 of the 21,098 registered voters – about  7 %  – was a poor town-wide showing.

Bruce Panilaitis will take a seat on the Board of Selectmen.  Vinny Fratalia will take the open seat on the Planning Board. Panilaitis and Fratalia were actively involved last summer in the successful grass roots NO SLOTS effort – pitted against the unanimous support of all members of the Board of Selectmen. Brian Dick was re-elected to the School Committee, two incumbents  Patrick Joyce and Robert Homeyer  were re-elected to the Library Board of Trustees, incumbent Charles Roux to the Board of Health and incumbent Louise Gearty to the Housing  Authority.

Congratulations to Jerry Selissen, Bruce Panilaitis, Vinny Fratalia and all the other winners in Tewksbury. More analysis later.

Vinny Fratalia, Jerry Selissen, Bruce Panilaitis  at their joint post-election victory celebration at the Tewkbury CC last evening. (Photo courtesy of Lorna Garey of the TDTC)