Following are Annual Town Meeting and local election results received by press time on Tuesday night:
Brattleboro: Peter "Fish" Case defeated challenger Oscar Heller for a three-year term on the Selectboard, 1,115–1095.
"It is not lost on me that my victory was by a margin of 20 votes," Case wrote on Facebook on Tuesday night in thanking his supporters.
"It is not lost on me that several factors may have played into that result," he continued. "It is not lost on me that Oscar Heller cares deeply about this community and it showed in those results."
Case, who has just completed a one-year term, said he was proud of the voter turnout and proud "to stand in the political pen with Oscar and listen to him talk issues with our citizens."
Heller posted that he was "obviously disappointed to get so close, but proud of the campaign I ran and grateful for everyone who supported me!"
For the one-year seats, incumbent Franz Reichsman and newcomer Richard Davis won the three-way race, defeating Jaki Reis.
• Windham Southeast School District Board: Voters in Brattleboro, Putney, Dummerston, and Guilford voted on candidates representing individual towns.
In unofficial results, newcomer Brian Remer defeated Kelly Young, the current board chair, for the Guilford seat, by a vote of 1,298–823. Deborah Mcneil, who dropped out of the race, earned 589 votes.
Voters selected incumbent Matthew Schibley over Lance Cutler, 1,580–1,184, for a one-year Brattleboro seat. Winning a two-year term were incumbent Tim Maciel and newcomer Colleen Savage, with 1,676 and 1,660 votes, respectively. They edged out challenger Richard Leavy's 1,659 votes.
From Putney, Anne Beekman ran unopposed. No seats were up for election from Dummerston this year.
• Putney: Incumbent Aileen Chute defeated challenger Frank Harlow, 381–190, for a three-year term on the Selectboard in the only contested race on the ballot. Voters approved highway fund expenditures of $1.34 million and general fund expenditures of $1.83 million, but rejected a 1% local-option tax on sales, meals, alcoholic beverages, and rooms.
• Townshend: Voters approved all articles on the warrant, and newcomers Kate Alley, Alene Evans, and Nick Suarez were all elected from the floor to serve as Selectboard members.
• Londonderry: Voters approved the creation of a new short-term rental administrator to enforce the town's new registration policy for short-term rentals. The town hopes to fund the position with new registration fees that take effect on July 1. Voters rejected a 1% local-option tax on rooms and meals, but approved a 1% local-option sales tax.
• Newfane: Voters approved general fund expenditures of $1.69 million for town and highway operating expenses and capital expenses of $420,000, plus $98,000 to hire a new highway department employee. Voters also approved a nonbinding article calling for an immediate cease fire in Gaza.
• Halifax: Voters approved $2.432 million in Selectboard and highway expenditures but passed over an article on the town assessing a 1% local-option rooms tax. It was the only article on the warrant that did not pass.
• Wardsboro: Voters approved appropriating $455,826 to the general fund and $1.02 million to the highway fund. They also approved $64,579 for the Wardsboro Public Library and $93,726 for the volunteer fire department and six health care and social service organizations.
• Wilmington: Voters want to keep floor voting for articles at Town Meeting, as a non-binding article instructing the Selectboard not to use Australian balloting for at least the next three years passed unanimously.
They also approved a general fund of $3.11 million and $1.63 million for the road budget.
• Dover: Voters passed all articles, including a general fund expenditure of nearly $2.6 million and $1.8 million for the high department.
• Brookline: On March 4, voters appropriated $201,299 to the general fund and $327,418 for the highway fund and authorized spending $10,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money toward a new fire truck.
• Vernon: Also on March 4, voters decided to postpone a decision on curbside collection of trash and recycling to September, when a Special Town Meeting will be held. A $2.3 million general operating budget was approved.
• Westminster: On March 2, voters plowed through their warrant in about two hours, passing budgets of $1.2 million for the general fund, $1.5 million for highways, and $5.3 million for the town school budget.
Voters also approved a "Declaration of Inclusion" calling for the town to welcome all and to commit to "being a place where individuals may live freely and express their opinions without fear, where kindness and respect are valued, and where all persons feel safe and welcome."
This News item was submitted to The Commons.