AMHERST — Former Charter Commission vice chairwoman Mandi Jo Hanneke, current Select Board members Alisa V. Brewer and Andrew J. Steinberg and Town Moderator James W. Pistrang have qualified as councilor-at-large finalists at the Nov. 6 election.
Also moving on to the general election after Tuesday’s preliminary election were Holyoke Community College professor Robert E. Greeney, with 1,410 votes, and former Select Board member Robert B. Kusner, with 1,130 votes. Hanneke, Brewer and Pistrang were the top vote getters, with 2,681, 2,460 and 2,438 votes, respectively, while Steinberg earned 1,826 votes.
Information technology professional Dillon A. Maxfield, with 570 votes, was the only at-large candidate eliminated from contention. Those who finish in the top three in November will be seated on the 13-member council, along with the top two finishers in each district.
District 5, made up of Precincts 7 and 8, saw the most competitive election, with Downtown Mindfulness owner Shalini Bahl-Milne, pacing the six-person field with 773 votes. She will be joined in the general election by retired teacher Darcy A. DuMont, who got 751 votes, attorney Paul C. Bobrowski, with 465 votes, and former business owner Samuel A. MacLeod, with 460 votes. Former Select Board member Aaron Hayden, and software developer Jeffrey C. Lee, with 396 and 300 votes, were eliminated.
For District 3, made up of Precincts 4 and 10, professor Dorothy S. Pam, with 215 votes, was followed by adjunct professor at Holyoke Community College George E. Ryan, who got 193 votes, former Finance Committee member Stephen R. Braun, with 157 votes, and UMass student John R. Page, with 106 votes. Teacher Joyce A. Thatcher, 139 Sunset Ave., with 86 votes, was eliminated.
In District 4, made up of Precincts 5 and 9, UMass lecturer Evan Robert Ross, got 439 votes, followed by teacher Jacqueline Lucette Maidana, with 412 votes, UMass professor and chairman of the Department of Architecture Stephen D. Schreiber, with 381 votes, and David G. Reffsin, a sales director for Pierce Brothers Coffee with 271 votes. James Roche, with 77 votes, and UMass planner Niels P. la Cour, 24 North Whitney St., with 85 votes and who had previously dropped out, were eliminated.
In District 2, made up of Precincts 2 and 6, the field was narrowed to retired UMass Donahue Institute Executive Director J. Lynn Griesemer, with 855 votes, teacher Patricia C. DeAngelis, with 572 votes, Victor Nunez-Ortiz, a U.S. Marines veteran and the vice president of Veterans Advocacy Services, with 442 votes, and attorney and Amherst Chamber of Commerce President Peter Vickery with 434 votes. Juan Manuel Ruiz-Hau received 132 votes, despite previously announcing he was dropping out.
In District 1, made up of Precincts 1 and 3, no preliminary election was needed, with four candidates automatically moving on to the general election. They are A.J. Hastings co-owner Sharon Povinelli, Cathy Schoen, senior vice president of The Commonwealth Fund, farmer Sarah E. Swartz, and Nicola Usher, an undergraduate academic adviser at the University of Massachusetts.