Election 2017

6 Running for Council, But Second Incumbent Out; School Comm Race Draws 6

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Half a dozen people will run for both Town Council and for School Committee, but a second incumbent Councilor has decided not to run for reelection. There will also be a race for Board of Library Trustees, but several will not have contested races including Town Council President and the two-year School Committee seat. The Town Council At Large race will have six candidates for the four seats, but there will be at least two new faces on the board after Aaron Dushku decided not to run for a third term. Earlier, Susan Falkoff announced she would not seek another term. On Monday, challenger David Stokes got his papers certified and Michelle Cokonougher turned in her papers and Flynn said he is confident she will have the 100 signatures of Watertown residents necessary get on the ballot.

Elections

Watertown Man Running for Seat on Watertown Library Board of Trustees

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Watertown’s Daniel Pritchard announced his candidacy for Board of Library Trustees in November’s Town Election. 

Pritchard sent out the following press release:

Writer, editor, and nonprofit professional Daniel E. Pritchard is a first-time political candidate running to join the Board of Trustees of the Watertown Free Public Library. Raised in Quincy, MA, Pritchard learned the values of hard work, common decency, and public service from his single mother, who also instilled a love of libraries that would set the trajectory of his life. “The library was a home away from home,” he remembers. “I read everything — fantasy, biography, crime, poetry, the classics. The library was my window to the wider world.”

A graduate cum laude of Boston College, Pritchard has pursued a successful career in the business of letters.

Election 2017

List of Candidates in Watertown Growing as Filing Deadline Nears

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More potential candidates in Watertown have taken out papers to run for elected office with less than a week before the deadline for candidates to be certified. Several candidates have officials made the ballot in November by having their candidate papers certified, while more than a dozen have taken out papers to run for office. The races with the most candidates are for Town Councilor At-Large and the four-year School Committee seats. Candidates must gather 100 signatures of registered Watertown voters, and they must be certified by the Town Clerk’s office. The signatures must be submitted to and certified by the Town Clerk by 5 p.m. on Monday, July 31, and the Town Clerk has until Aug. 14 to certify the signatures.

Elections

Candidate for 2-Year School Committee Seat is a Parent and Teacher

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The first candidate for the two-year School Committee seat has been certified to be on the ballot, and the first-time challenger has experience as a Watertown parent and as a teacher in another school system. Lindsay Mosca will run for the School Committee seat being vacated by Candace Miller, who announced she will step down because she is leaving town. The two-year seat will be on the Town Election ballot in November, but will be separate from the four-year School Committee seats. Mosca sent out the following information:
I have lived in Watertown with my husband, Justin, since 2005. Our two young children, Jennie and Jacob (5 and 7 years old), attend the Lowell Elementary School. I teach mathematics at Lexington High School, and my husband is an engineer at VHB in Watertown.

Elections

Big Interest in Running for Town Councilor At-Large & School Committee

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The latest list of people who have pulled papers to run for office in the 2017 Watertown Town Election includes many possible candidates for Town Councilor at Large and School Committee. 

If everyone who has pulled papers gets enough signatures to be on the ballot, all the open seats will have at least one person running for them, but two have attracted more interest than the rest. There will be an uncontested seat in the Councilor-At-Large race, with Susan Falkoff announcing she will not seek reelection. Six people have pulled papers, including the three remaining incumbents: Aaron Dushku, Michael Dattoli and Tony Palmoba. There are also three challengers, all of whom are running for Town Council for the first time: David Stokes, Caroline Bays and Michelle Cokonougher. For the other Council seats, so far, the only ones to pull papers are the incumbents: Town Council President Mark Sideris, District A Councilor Angeline Kounelis, District B Councilor Lisa Feltner, District C Councilor Vincent Piccirilli and District D Councilor Ken Woodland.

Election 2017

Decision Made on How to Fill Vacant School Committee Seat

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The School Committee will have an open seat when one of its members moves out of town, and the seat will be filled by a special election that will be on the ballot during this fall’s Town Election. 

In May, School Committee member Candace Miller announced she would be stepping down from her seat because she and her family are moving. She told her colleagues on June 5, and submitted her letter of resignation to the Town Clerk that week saying she will officially step down on Aug. 5. The decision of how the remaining 2 years and two months is made by the Town Council. Tuesday night Council President Mark Sideris recommended that a special election be called.

Elections

First Time Candidate Joining Race for Watertown Town Council

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A trained family mediator and community organizer, Caroline Bays announced her candidacy for Watertown Councilor-at-Large today. A Watertown resident for 19 years, Caroline and her husband Bill chose Watertown as an affordable, diverse community in which to raise their two children Austin and Susannah. She has organized volunteers and talked with Watertown voters about the issues in local campaigns to elect Watertown Councilors Susan Falkoff and Tony Palomba, State Representative Jon Hecht, State Senator Will Brownsberger, as well as U.S. Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren. “I’ve spoken to people all over Watertown as I have campaigned for other candidates. I’ve talked to people about issues that upset them as well as the many strengths of our community,” says Bays.

Election 2017

One Watertown Town Councilor Will Not Run for Re-election This Fall

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As candidates begin pulling papers to run in the 2017 Watertown Town Election, one longtime Town Councilor will not be seeking another term. 

Councilor At-Large Susan Falkoff said she has decided to step down from the Council at the end of her term. “It’s just time,” Falkoff said. “I feel like I have made a good contribution. A lot of things I have worked on have come to fruition.” She was first elected in 2003, but lost in 2005 “along with the CPA,” Falkoff said.