YARMOUTH — Nearly 10 percent of registered voters cast their ballots Tuesday to elect incumbent Erving Bickford and former Chairman Carl Winslow to the Town Council.
Voters also elected three School Committee members, a Water District Trustee, and ratified the $19.5 million school budget.
According to Town Clerk Jennifer Doten, the unofficial results of Tuesday’s municipal election showed 751 of 7,450 registered voters, or about 10 percent, participated.
“More people voted than I would have expected,” Doten said. “It’s not a bad turnout for a June election.”
Bickford, 76, and Winslow, 77, defeated newcomer Steve Woods in the contested Town Council race. Bickford received 473 votes, Winslow received 449 votes and Woods received 401 votes. Bickford also took the uncontested Water District seat with 671 votes.
Woods, 49, said he was disappointed by the results because he campaigned for two months, visited more than 100 homes, sent a mailing to more than 4,000 residents, participated in a town forum, took out two full-page advertisements in local newspapers, and spent nearly 10 hours at the polls.
“It is especially disappointing considering neither Erv or Carl campaigned or addressed any of the imminent issues,” he said. “I believe residents thought relative to Erv and Carl, I was too young, or I may have needed more signs along the streets of Yarmouth.”
Bickford was pleased to hear he was elected to serve another three years on the council.
“I feel good that being there as long as I have, people still support me,” he said. “It will be a difficult three years, but it should be fun, too.”
Winslow said he was also happy to serve on the council again as it will keep him busy.
“I’d say my goal for the next three years is to keep taxes as low as possible,” he said. “We need to look at ways services can be cut back, or look for more volunteer efforts. It’s the only way Yarmouth can continue to provide services at this level.”
In the uncontested election for three School Committee seats, former Chairman David Ray received 577 votes, and newcomers Andrew Tureff and Craig Wolff received 561 and 545 votes respectively.
Residents validated the $19.5 million school budget 498-241.
Amy Anderson can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 110 or aanderson@theforecaster.net.
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