Charlie Breitrose
Incumbents fared well in the race for Town Council Tuesday night with three winning re-election as Councilors At-Large Race, and the one facing a candidate for District Councilor coming out on top. The two incumbents running for the School Committee will also return for another term.
The results came out of the Town Clerk’s Office at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. The vote is not official until all the absentee and overseas votes are counted, which could take a week or longer.
Incumbents Tony Palomba received the most votes for Councilors At-Large with 3,251. Newcomer John Airasian was second with 3,177, a single vote ahead of third place candidate Caroline Bays’ 3,176. The fourth spot on the Council went to John Gannon, with 2,916 votes. Challenger Dan D’Amico finished fifth with 2,662 votes, followed by Megan O’Halloran with 2,349 votes, and Jimmy Mello with 1,662.
In District A, Nicole Gardner won the seat with 1,109 votes. Her opponent, Michael Hanlon received 373 votes. Gardner will represent the East End and will succeed Angeline Kounelis, who held the seat for many years.
Incumbent Lisa Feltner won re-election in District B with 924 votes. Tiffany York received 439 votes.
In District D, representing the Westside of town, Emily Izzo won with 1,095 votes over Connie Henry, with 454. Izzo won the seat that had been held by Ken Woodland. He had to step down when he took a job for the State.
Town Council President Mark Sideris and District C Councilor Vincent Piccirilli ran unopposed.
The School Committee race saw incumbent Amy Donohue take the top spot with 2,924 votes, followed by incumbent Lily Rayman-Read with 2,825 and challenger Jessica Middlebrook took the third spot on the School Committee with 2,572. Jennifer Nicholson finished fourth with 2,183 votes. In fifth was Rachel Kay with 2,127 and Colleen Mahoney Flaherty received 1,705 votes.
This year the Board of Library Trustees had a race with incumbent Leanne Hammonds receiving the most votes, with 3,525, followed by Sara Keary with 2,764 votes, and Rose Mary Su secured the third spot on the board with 2,757. Maja Young finished fourth with 2,406 votes.
Both Charter Changes on the ballot were approved. Watertown will officially be known as the City of Watertown with Question 1 passing with 3,379 votes for yes and 2,455 no votes. The laundry list of changes in Question 2 passed with 3,790 votes for yes and 1,924 votes for no.
If you want to find this on the town website, you have to go to document center/town clerk/elections/election results and then try to figure out what file name they used. It’s not on the front page. It’s not under the election banner at the top of the page. See every other surrounding town to see how towns post results clearly. (This is why I voted for charter reform — better transparency.)
Congrats to all the winners. Glad to see that “slates” lost and a diversity of experiences won! Time to focus on real issues and not phony diversions.
I agree that it’s often hard to find specific information on Watertown’s Web site; a redesign for greater transparency and ease of use would be welcome. In this case, a browser search for “watertown ma election 2021 results” led to this page, which includes links to results from several years worth of recent elections: watertown-ma.gov/935/Election-Results
I am truly saddened to see Angie Kounelis retiring from public service. Angie served East Watertown with care and conviction for the past 16 years. She embraced the whole community while taking special interest in Watertown’s seniors. Angie understood that being a councilor is about making sure that the “nuts and bolts” of government and services come together productively and seemlessly. Above all Angie was not motivated by politics or a political agenda. I could not even determine if she had any strong political affiliation. I think her only affiliation and love, for that matter, was Watertown itself. Thank you Angie for your service!
Agreed. She worked hard and served her district as she believed it wished to be served.
Seconded, she’s very responsive and you can tell she cares about her neighborhood.
I agree Angie K was a great asset to the residents of the town and didn’t get caught up in political agendas. I hope the new councilors will focus on the real “kitchen table issues” that affect Watertown. Our town shouldn’t get bogged town with “noise” issues that are national talking points.