Selectman race heats up after departure of incumbent

The 2017 town election season is fast approaching, and the competition seems to be heating up in a hurry in the marquee race for Board of Selectmen.

With two BOS seats up for grabs in the April 4 election and one incumbent, Chairman Bob Burr, recently announcing plans to step down at the conclusion of his current term, a number of newcomers have expressed an interest in the office and have pulled nomination papers, although it is not yet clear how many plan to return them.

At this point there appears to be two certain candidates: incumbent Victor Del Vecchio, who formally announced his candidacy in the Canton Citizen this week, and current Planning Board Chairman Jeremy Comeau, who had originally planned to run for a three-year Planning Board seat but has since returned his nomination papers for selectman and had them certified by the town clerk’s office earlier this week.

Additionally, as of Monday afternoon there were five other residents who had pulled nomination papers: Paul Alfano, Jonathan Comeau, Chris Connolly, Nichola Gallagher, and Thomas Theodore.

Alfano has indicated that he will not be entering the race, while Jonathan Comeau, who is Jeremy’s brother and was the first person to announce his candidacy back in April 2016, recently announced in a Facebook post that he is withdrawing his name from consideration, citing family obligations.

A political novice, Jonathan Comeau had gained a sizable following on social media and emerged as an outspoken critic of the town on issues such as traffic, digital communications, and Reservoir Pond regulations. However, in his Facebook post announcing his decision, he reiterated his belief that Canton is a “great town” and praised the progress that the leadership has made over the past nine months.

“Our town has dedicated people who have devoted many years of their lives to make it this way,” he said. “Over the course of the last year I have watched as the Board of Selectmen listened — not only to me, but many of the people who wanted their voices heard. Almost every issue I could think of was addressed.”

As for the other three prospective selectman candidates, the Citizen was unable to confirm their intentions at the time the paper went to press. All three have previous town government experience — Connolly, a local attorney, served for two terms on the Planning Board; Gallaher currently serves on the Finance Committee; and Theodore currently serves on the Playground and Recreation Commission. The Planning Board is an elected position while the other two posts are appointed (Rec. Commission by the BOS and FinCom by the town moderator).

Burr’s decision to step down after 13 years as a selectmen, which he announced at the end of the January 10 BOS meeting, came as a surprise to many observers as well as those who serve with him. Burr declined to elaborate on his decision at this time, but noted in a statement that it came after “much thought and contemplation.”

He added that all town officials, when considering whether to run for reelection, must carefully examine “what [they] have achieved, what [they] would like to achieve, and how to balance that against personal goals and responsibilities.”

Burr made his announcement early so that other potentially qualified candidates could have time to consider a run, and there appears to be plenty of interest judging from the number of people who pulled papers in the immediate aftermath of his decision. There was a similar response two years ago when then-incumbent Sal Salvatori announced he would not run for reelection, resulting in a wide-open, five-person race for two seats that ended with the election of two newcomers, Kevin Feeney and Mark Porter.

Besides the two selectmen’s seats, there are 10 other offices up for grabs in 2017, and there is currently one other potential race with both Patricia McDermott and Kathy McCormack having pulled papers for the one-year Planning Board seat (to fill a vacancy). Additionally, Bob Panico, who was appointed to the Planning Board following the resignation of Tori McClain, has taken out papers for the five-year Planning Board seat currently occupied by Jeremy Comeau.

The only other candidates at this time are incumbents: John Bonnanzio and Reuki Schutt for School Committee, Dan Flood for assessor, Dr. Julie Goodman for Board of Health, and Susan Cogliano and George Comeau for library trustee.

At one point there were four members of the Comeau family running for office and now there are three: George and Jeremy, who are brothers, and McDermott, who is George Comeau’s wife.

Other seats that are currently open include a three-year term on the Planning Board (to fill a vacancy) and a three-year term on the Library Board of Trustees.

Interested candidates have until 5 p.m. on Friday, February 10, to take out nomination papers, and the papers must be returned to the town clerk’s office, along with the signatures of at least 50 registered Canton voters, by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 14.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=35314

Posted by Jay Turner on Jan 27 2017. Filed under News, Town Election, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.