Police exam coming.
Our top story this morning (no, not really): The Manchester Police Department will be hosting an entry-level police exam on Saturday, November twenty first. The deadline for application is Thursday, November twelfth. For further information and an application visit manchester p d dot com. If you have any questions feel free to contact Officer Carl Accorto at 7 9 2 5 4 5 2.
Now, onto the rest of the news.
Gatsas: Reelected
Manchester voters gave Mayor Ted Gatsas a “near death experience” victory last night, reelecting the three term mayor by just seventy five votes out of nineteen thousand nine hundred sixty nine ballots cast. Unofficial election results show Gatsas with ten thousand twenty two votes and rival Joyce Craig with nine thousand nine hundred forty seven. In a statement released by his campaign, Gatsas said he was quote “humbled by the support I have received from the voters today and truly honored to serve as your Mayor for another two years!” For Gatsas, this win is his fourteenth consecutive victory, including his races for alderman and state senate. Gatsas has never lost an election.
Craig: Won’t concede
Despite the vote count, Craig declined to concede the race. She has chosen to wait until the results are made official before deciding whether to concede or ask for a recount. Adding to the vote totals for the official count, which will have to be certified by the City Clerk, will be any ballots that had to be counted by hand and any write in votes. The vote tallies are likely to be completed and certified today, which will give Craig until Friday to ask for a recount.
Gatsas managed to improve on his primary performance in Ward One, Craig’s base, losing the ward by three hundred seventy nine votes. He narrowly lost wards Two and Three and lost wards Four and Seven by slightly larger than expected margins. He narrowly won Ward Five and carried Ward Six, albeit by half the margin expected by his campaign. Gatsas defeated Craig in Ward Eight by two hundred forty two votes, also somewhat smaller that expected, but carried Ward Nine and the West Side wards by margins big enough to prevail.
Results
In other races across the city, incumbents ruled the day, beating back spirited challenges from several newcomers. In school board races, Dan Bergeron bested first time candidate Larraine Lencki in Ward Six, Ross Terrio held off Wendy Garrity to win in Ward Seven, Ericka Connors barely survived newcomer Jimmy Lehoux’s challenge in Ward Eight and Connie Van Houten defeated Christine Duffley in Ward 12. Sarah Ambrogi and Debra Langton were easily reelected in wards One and Two respectively.
Girard: Only candidate to unseat an incumbent
In the at-Large race, incumbent Nancy Tessier led the field and that pesky radio talk show host Rich Girard upended incumbent Kathy Staub to win the second seat. Girard was the only candidate to unseat an incumbent in any of yesterday’s contests. The open seats on the school board were won by Mary Ngwanda Georges in Ward Three, Leslie Want in Ward Four and Lisa Freeman in Ward Five.
More results
Incumbents ran the table on the Board of Aldermen. Jason Cooper fell short in his bid to unseat Alderman Ron Ludwig in Ward Two. Ward Eight Alderman Tommy Katsiantonis survived a spirited challenge from Ed Sapienza. In Ward Ten, Bill Barry was narrowly reelected over challenger Ray Hebert and in Ward Eleven Alderman Normand Gamache was reelected over former Alderman Russell Ouellette. Ward Three Alderman Patrick Long, Ward Seven Alderman Bill Shea and Ward Twelve Alderman Keith Hirschmann easily defeated their opponents. Aldermen at-Large Dan O’Neil and Joe Kelly Levasseur were reelected by comfortable margins over former Alderman at-Large Mike Lopez and Ward Six Alderman Garth Corriveau.
For the open seats, Kevin Cavanaugh bested Andre Rosa in Ward One, Christopher Herbert beat Steve Mathieu in Ward Four and Nick Pappas trounced Karen Ladd in Ward Six.
Aldermen Tony Sapienza and Barbara Shaw were unopposed as were School Committeemembers Arthur Beaudry, John Avard and Kate Desrochers.
Welfare Commissioner Paul Martineau beat repeat challenger Diane Guimond and will go down in history as the last elected welfare commissioner as voters approved amending the city charter to make the position an appointed one.
Robert: Cruises to victory!
Finally this morning, the race you didn’t know about, but was probably the most important race in the city. In the race for selectman in Ward Nine, the race that prevented the ward from having a perfect Soviet Ballot for ward offices, incumbent Selectman Tom Robert handily defeated challenger David McClosky. McClosky was the VERY last person to file for any office during the filing period, which prevented the ward from having a perfect Soviet Ballot. Serves him right! How dare he challenge the incumbents! (Yes, we’re kidding…)
Click here for the unofficial citywide results.
Click here for the unofficial ward results.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is next!
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