Winsted 2015 Election Results

WINSTED — Residents who voted at the municipal election on Tuesday, Oct. 3, voted in a Democratic majority to the Board of Selectmen.

According to voting registrars, Democrat Steven Sedlack, who won a seat to the board at last year’s special election, received 963 votes.

Incumbent Democrat Candy Perez, who was elected to her seventh consecutive term to the board, received the next highest amount at 890 votes.

Former Board of Education member Democrat Brian Shaughnessy has been elected to the board with 846 votes, along with fellow Democrats and first-time candidates Jack Bourque with 805 votes and Melissa Bird with 781 votes.

Rounding out the board will be Republican and first-time candidate Todd Arcelaschi with 815 votes and incumbent Glenn Albanesius, who received 791 votes.

The other three candidates who were on the Republican ticket who did not get enough votes are now former mayor Candace Bouchard with 758 votes, Winchester Republican Party Chairman Jerry Martinez with 649 votes and now former Selectman Daniel Langer with 642 votes.

Petitioning candidate Scott Eisenlohr received 245 votes.

In an email in September to local media, Eisenlohr said he was pulling out of his campaign due to medical reasons, but he still left his name on the ballot.

For the Board of Education, Democrats Nora Mocarski and incumbent Doug Pfenninger, along with Republicans John Pollack and Liz O’Dowd, were all elected to four-year terms.

Mocarski received 820 votes, Pfenninger received 698 votes, Pollack received 674 votes and O’Dowd received 608 votes.

Incumbent and petitioning candidate Richard Dutton received the least amount of votes at 304.

For the Board of Education race for a two-year term, Democrat Michelle Hintz beat Republican Robert Vogt by a vote of 785 to 753.

In the town clerk’s race, Democrat Sheila Sedlack received 1,190 votes, beating Republican candidate David Cappabianca, who received 504 votes.

The final tally for the election was 1,667 votes, which is approximately 31 percent  of the town’s 5,379 registered voters.

Ceremony at Town Hall

The winning candidates were all sworn in at a ceremony at Town Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 4.

At the ceremony, despite Sedlack getting the highest amount of votes, he stepped aside and nominated Perez as mayor.

“The office is daunting,” Sedlack said to the audience gathered to watch the ceremony. “I am standing here feeling the responsibility. I appreciate the voters of Winsted coming out to vote for all of us and acknowledge the fact that I was the highest vote getter.”

Sedlack noted that, as per town tradition, the selectmen’s candidate with the highest amount of votes is usually selected as mayor.

“Unless there is a compelling reason not to do that,” Sedlack said. “It just so happens that there is a compelling reason not to do that. Candy Perez is the leader of our party. There is no question that election campaign was outstanding and energized all because of Candy. We have a person here who has a lot of experience as a selectman and previous experience as a mayor. It is time to install her as the next mayor.”

All seven elected selectmen voted to choose Perez as the town’s new mayor.

Perez nominated Sedlack as the town’s deputy mayor which all selectmen approved unanimously.

“I have been a part of this process for a long time and each and every time it is humbling,” Perez told the audience. “It’s also a sense of responsibility that we have to carry forward the community in terms that we are together as a full team and that the best interests of Winsted are served by the decisions that we make. We all believe that this town has what it takes to be successful and we already see this taking place within our staff, new and established businesses, new museums and community volunteers. There is no doubt that hard work still needs to be done to propel Winsted forward. One of the key components of the successes of the town will be collaboration, all of us. With each other, with the schools, the community and investors that will be looking at our town to come to.”

Perez said she is calling for a special selectmen’s meeting on Monday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall to discuss plans and goals for the town during the board’s term.

“We have immediate goals,” she said. “It is critical that we begin to work as a Board of Selectmen together. Our goal by the end of next week is to have a timeline for hiring our new town manager as well as a discussion of an interim town manager position that will be needed during this process. In the next 30 days it is expected that we will be developing a mission and strategic goals. As a board we will include community members, schools and the business community in the discussion.”

Perez added that she hopes the board will be able to meet with members of the school district to discuss its financial situation and other various goals.

“We encourage people who are interested in helping the community to come forward,” she said. “There’s room at the table for everyone.”