SOUTHAMPTON — The town will soon have around the clock paramedic service and police coverage after voters narrowly approved a $332,500 Proposition 2½ override at Tuesday’s municipal election.

The approval, by a vote of 441-352, will give the town the funding it needs to add new positions and benefits, and to buy public safety equipment.

Town Administrator Ed Gibson said the approval allows the town to provide the paramedic service to be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week and meet the expected response times, as well as having three police officers on each shift and provide around the clock coverage.

“This shows that our town voters are willing to pay for those public safety services that they are expecting the town to provide,” said Gibson.

With the approval of the override, the tax rate will increase 34 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, according to Select Board Chairperson Chris Fowles. With the current tax rate at $14.33, residents’ tax bills for a single-family house assessed at $250,000 will increase $85 per year, or $21.25 per quarter. For a single-family home assessed at $500,000, the bill will increase $187 per year or $46.75 per quarter.

The override was approved with little discussion at the May 9 annual Town Meeting, so it was surprising to Town Clerk Luci Dalton that the election had such a low turn-out despite having more than 4,000 registered voters.

Dalton and members of her staff mailed out more than 800 ballots in advance of the May 16 town election. However, only 329 were turned in on time. Any ballots submitted after Tuesday are not allowed to be counted, she said.

“It’s disappointing,” said Dalton. “Between the override and two new Select Board members, I thought more people would show up.”

New Select Board members

On Wednesday, Dalton swore in two new Select Board members, Daniel Lavalley, who was elected with 633 votes, and Stephen Thor Johnson, who was elected with 574 votes.

Lavalley and Johnson replaced members Francine Tishman and Maureen “Reeny” Groden, who did not seek reelection.

Johnson was also elected to a four-year term on the Planning Board and Lavalley was elected to a five-year term on the Housing Authority. Both ran unopposed.

In the only contested race on the ballot for Park Commission, Alice Marie B. Badecker and Gregory C. Maak defeated candidate James R. Lumbra. Badecker received 462 votes; Maak received 453 votes; and Lumbra received 364 votes.

Candidates who were reelected running unopposed were Town Moderator Robert Floyd; Treasurer/Collector Jennifer Day; Darcie Gasperini to the Board of Assessors; Judith Miller Conlin to the Cemetery Commission; Library Trustee Linda Saltmarsh; Janet Brown to the Community Preservation Committee; Kaitlin Swistak Rooks to the Board of Health; Donna J. Whiteley to the Finance Committee; and Tree Warden Ronald D. Laurin.

Mark Bolton Darnold was elected to a five-year term on the Planning Board; David Kent to a one-year term on the Personnel Policies and Procedures Board; and Jon D. Lumbra, Kimberly Schott and Margaret Ann Larson were all elected to the Norris School Committee.

Since there were several empty seats on the ballot, Dalton said she received several write-in ballots, including one for Donald Trump to the town’s Finance Committee and another for “anyone but them.”

Any comments or blanks made in jest, Dalton says are time-consuming.

Among those with the winning votes were Charles D. Kaniecki as water commissioner with 24 votes; Kristen Biancuzzo with 13 votes and Amy Pawlus with 12 votes for library trustees; Patrick Guy for a three-year term on the Finance Committee with three votes; Gerri Jennings for the Hampshire Regional School Committee with three votes; and for the Personnel Policies and Procedures Board, Robin Richard for a two-year term with 12 votes and Jennifer Day for the three-year term with 11 votes.

As of presstime, Dalton said that only Day and Richard had accepted the write-in nominations.

Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.]]>