Voter Turnout At 26 Percent

By Wiley Wood

The results of Norfolk’s municipal elections were released by Town Clerk Linda Perkins on Wednesday, November 6. The town has a new selectman, Josh DeCerbo, who ran unopposed for the Republican seat made vacant by the departure of longtime selectman James Stotler. Sue Dyer will continue as Norfolk’s first selectman, a post she has held since November 1999. Leo Colwell rounds out the Board of Selectmen.

Also re-elected to uncontested seats were Town Clerk Linda Perkins and Town Treasurer Chelsea Byrne. Both were cross-endorsed by the Republican and Democratic parties.

Among the few contested seats in this election were two positions on the Board of Finance. Keith Harvill (D) and Karen Sebach (D) won over Jeffrey Torrant (R), who recently stepped off the Planning and Zoning Commission.

In the other contested race, Matt Riiska (D) and Tara Yard (D) won places on the Board of Assessment Appeals over Ann DeCerbo (R).

Michele Sloane, running as a petitioning candidate after neither major party chose to endorse her, was returned to her seat on the Planning and Zoning Commission, of which she is currently the chairman.

Of the 1,131 residents of Norfolk eligible to vote in this election, 296 did so, or 26 percent. This is considered a creditable number in an odd-year election.

The swearing-in ceremony for the newly elected and the newly re-elected will be held in the town clerk’s office at Town Hall on November 17 at 2 p.m. The event is open to the public.