WELLFLEET — Select board incumbent Ryan Curley defeated challenger Jeanne Maclaughlan at the May 1 town election. And on May 2 the board asked Curley to serve another year as its chair.
“I’m honored,” Curley said, “and I look forward to serving the town for three more years.”
According to unofficial results, 891 voters submitted ballots in this year’s election. Curley received 532 votes; Maclaughlan got 298.
Curley said that he will continue working to address what he sees as the town’s two main challenges: housing and wastewater. And although he is disappointed with the defeat of a housing specialist position on this year’s ballot, the quest to create that role isn’t over, he said.
“We are going to reassess and try to figure out how to do it differently,” Curley said. “Housing is extremely complicated. We need someone who is capable of advancing our efforts while supporting the programs we already have in place.”
He noted that a wastewater superintendent position that voters approved this year at both town meeting and the ballot had failed in past years.
Overall, Curley said, he is happy with the results of town meeting. “The voters put the town in a much better place in a lot of different areas, including housing,” he said.
He pointed to the approval of an $850,000 debt exclusion that will fund the extension of a water main from Eastham to Maurice’s Campground, which the town purchased last fall to develop into an affordable housing site. “It would have cost the town a lot more money in the future if it had been delayed,” Curley said.
Maclaughlan did not respond to a request for comment.
In the only other contested race, Charles “Skip” Annett bested Richard Davis for a two-year term on the cemetery commission. Annett received 328 votes; Davis received 265.
Dan Silverman will serve another one-year term as moderator. Laura Baghetti and Martha Gordon will stay on the elementary school committee for another three years. Andrew Freeman and Robin Robinson will serve again in three-year terms as library trustees. Nancy Vail will serve another three-year term on the cemetery commission, and Chris Easley will stay on the Nauset Regional School Committee for another three years.
