Selectman Naida Parker has won the only contested race in the 2015 Rochester Town Election on April 8, beating out current Town Moderator Greenwood “Woody” Hartley, and current ZBA Chairman and former selectman Richard Cutler.
As the polls closed Wednesday night at 8:00pm, Parker, Cutler, and Hartley, surrounded by family, stood quietly on along the perimeter of the Rochester Senior Center banquet hall awaiting the results.
Parker was the first name read, with 302 votes. Cutler received 206 voted, and Hartley had 269 votes.
Among the relative silence, one person in the room, upon hearing the results, whispered, “Oh good!”
Parker, who is also the Rochester town clerk, abstained from her usual duties on Election Day as the votes were tallied, for obvious reasons.
A total of 778 of Rochester’s registered voters made it to the polls today, with an 18.9% voter turnout.
After the other two candidates left without much noise, Parker had this to say about this year’s election and the quality of her running mates: “This was one of those races that the town wasn’t going to lose.”
The winners of the other uncontested races are:
- Town Moderator: Kirby Gilmore
- Tree Warden: Jeffrey Eldridge
- Board of Health: Dale Barrows
- Cemetery Commission: Veronica Lafreniere
- Park Commission: Kenneth Ross
- Board of Assessors (three years): Jana Cavanaugh
- Board of Assessors (two years): Debra M. Lalli
- Library Trustee: Noelle Johnson, Mary-Patrice Ruocco
- Rochester School Committee: Robin Rounseville, Tina Rood
- ORR School Committee: Cheryl Hebert
- Planning Board: Michael Murphy
- Water Commission: Michael Conway
By Jean Perry
