WESTPORT -- There will be four contested races for Tuesday’s annual Town Election.
Since April, after the election was delayed due to COVID-19, absentee ballots have been trickling into the Town Clerk’s office. However, all five polling precinct locations will be open from 10 a.m to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, where voters will cast final votes for two Planning Board races, a selectmen’s race, and a Board of Health race.
Six-term Selectman Steven Ouellette will vie for his seventh term and Selectmen Vice Chairman Brian Valcourt will run for his second consecutive term, after also serving on the board from 2009 to 2012. These incumbents will face challenges from political newcomers Sheri Mahoney and Sam Mundel. Both farmers, Mahoney and Mundel led a successful petition earlier this year to strengthen the Right to Farm bylaw, challenging a new regulation looking to institute an animal site registry.
On the health board, former Health Board Chairman Bill Harkins will look to return to the board. Registered Nurse Donna Amaral will challenge him for the post, which is currently occupied by Maury May, who opted not to run for re-election.
On the Planning Board, former board member David Cole, who took time off from the board last summer, will look to return. He is facing a challenge from civil contractor Manny Soares, who has 40 years experience in the construction industry.
On the select board race, Mahoney and Mundel, business owners and farmers, are running together on a platform of change. Both expressed frustration in town government, leading to their work to rally people against the animal site registry.
“We are united in our desire to preserve Westport as a farming community and represent the people in our town who deserve to have their voices heard,” Mahoney and Mundel said in a joint statement.
Valcourt, a builder and a lifelong resident, touts how he has raised two children in the town, and tries to represent all facets of Westport, from parents and teachers, farmers, fishermen, and trades people.
“That’s why I feel that I am the best candidate for this board. Because, I have proven that I can help to lead this town into an even brighter future, and with your help we can continue to do this. That’s Westport. That’s what we are! Imagine what we can be. My opponents tired rally cry is ‘Take your town back’ and I ask from whom? Those of us with 50 plus years invested in this town’s future?” Valcourt wrote in a statement.
Both Valcourt and longtime Selectman Steven Ouellette, cite their lifelong volunteerism in town. Ouellette, also a lifelong resident, began as a call firefighter, reserve police officer and highway department snow removal crew member.
He touts how he has worked to make roads safer in town, as well as make government more transparent.
“Information is now readily available through a town web site, which I spearheaded, internet, cable and social media. I’m proud that your government is far more open than ever before,” he said.
On the health board, retired Tabor Academy information technology employee Bill Harkins will look to return to the health board. Last year, he lost by 17 votes to Tanja Ryden.
Harkins said many people have asked him to consider a return. He said during his three-year term, the board helped rebuild the department after an animal abuse scandal in 2016. During his time, the board hired a health director as well as a town nurse.
Harkins said he wants to build a better working relationship between the health board and the farming community.
Amaral, who has 40 years nursing experience, including her work as a UMass Dartmouth nursing professor, lauds these unique experience for the health board. She also served as chair of the Commissioner of Trust funds for one term and is a member of the Allen’s Pond Advisory Board.
She cited the COVID-19 crisis as one reason to elect an experienced healthcare professional.
“I love Westport and am concerned about the health and welfare of all residents and believe I can bring a fresh professional perspective to the Board of Health,” she said.
Cole, a retired economics professor at Harvard University, said he joined the board in 2013 and helped implement the Master Plan. He touts the need to remove nitrogen from the Westport River and propose measures to bring it down.
Soares, touting a common sense approach, downplayed that nitrogen issue, as well as the call for new homeowners to invest in more expensive septic tanks.Soares mentioned that the river’s health is returning.
Soares praised the new Master Plan, adopted in 2016, and says he has the business mindset to implement some of the recommendations, especially as the north side of town looks to implement a water and sewer line.
For the one-year seat, Campground Evaluation Committee member Joseph Ingoldsby, recognized nationally for his work on environmental causes and helping endangered species will square off against architect Mark Schmid, with 40 years experience in the field. In recent interviews for local cable, both emphasized a need for balanced growth in town.