Every vote really counted in the Kellogg Board of Education election. While incumbent BOE president Andrea Downs was the clear favorite with 118 votes, 93 voters chose Democrat Beckie Seney who bested challenger Republican Ross Grannan by just four votes. In the Region 1 Board of Education elections, Maggie Ruotolo decisively beat Gale Toensing 183 to 112. With a total of 321 voters showing up at the polls or submitting absentee ballots, First Selectman Pat Mechare proved more popular than her fellow BOS members: She got 229 votes while Chuck Lewis got 158 and Pete Lawson got 119. Ironically, the most popular candidate in Falls Village is our Tax Collector, Jean Bronson, who got 278 votes, which is more than any other candidate in either a contested or uncontested race.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Win, Place & Show
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8 comments:
Dan,
As I was leaving the newsroom late this morning, my editor told me we got a call from FV town clerk Mary Palmer, who said since the gap between Seney and Grannan was so slim, a run-off election between the two will be necessary within a few days. Stay tuned ...
Terry Cowgill
Terry, NO NO NO. This was not the message.
Ross Granan has declined to have the vote count recanvassed for the Board of Education; therefore, there is no recanvass in the Town of Canaan (Falls Village) scheduled and certainly not a run-off election.
Mary M. Palmer,
Town Clerk
Town of Canaan
November 7, 2007 @ 2:47 PM
Mary, that's what I heard before I left, but now I understand he is not contesting the results and so there is no need for further action. Thanks for the clarification.
A HUGE thank you to Ross Grannan for taking the time and being willing to step up to the plate to run for BOE. When parents got together and asked Ross if he would run, he stepped up to the plate. He saw the need for change, openness and honesty. And these same parents, albeit a small number of people when compared to the size of the voting community (There are only 60+ families at Kellogg), supported him and are grateful. It was a close race, he only lost by 4 votes. Hopefully a message has been sent and times will change - time will tell.(although knowing that the BOE has now changed the format of the meetings so no one can ask questions at a BOE meeting any more, it doesn't look that way! So much for that asset of parent involvement!). THANK YOU ROSS!
Is that true about the BOE meetings that there is no public comment? Why is this, can anyone please explain.
Thank you to all that ran. Being a public servant can be a thankless job.
As a board of education member I am concerned about some of the misinformation that is out there. The board absolutely has a time for public comment at each regular meeting. I ask that you do remember that our meetings are not public hearings but business meetings. In the interest of time and moving the meeting along we do limit all public comments/questions to 3 minutes.
I would hope that people would use caution in publishing information before they know if it is true or not. Some hard lessons were learned over the last couple of months. I hope that everyone of us will work hard together to promote good communication and cooperation amongst us all.
Hold your horses! It is absolutely true that the public can no longer ask questions at a BOE meeting, that is not misinformation. One parent who asked a question was specifically told at a recent meeting "this is not a Q&A session" and the newest agenda states "comments only". This is a new change as questions from the public used to be asked. I know, I have been there. "Grateful parent" did not post misinformation.
Your post states "comments/QUESTIONS" will be allowed for 3 minutes? Is this true, questions will be allowed like they used to be?
This would be a good thing - the communication needs to be open as there are so many concerns at Kellogg which need to be addressed.
I agree, lessons were taught,and going back to allowing questions from concerned parents/citizens would show lessons were also learned.
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