FREEDOM â While the COVID-19 pandemic made town voting day a bit different for towns that kept to their traditional schedule, residents who went to the polls in Freedom, Eaton, Ossipee and Wolfeboro cast some interesting ballots.
In Freedom, incumbent selectman Alan Fall trailed the front-runner by five votes after tallies were announced on Tuesday night.
âWe did an instant recount immediately, while the counting crew was assembled,â said Town Clerk Libby Priebe. âMelissa Florio was declared the winner.
Three candidates vied for the three-year selectmanâs seat. Florio, a local business owner who vied unsuccessfully for a seat last year, took top honors with 223 votes, followed by Fall with 218, and Robert Rafferty, eight.
February 17, 2021OSSIPEE Incumbent Martha Eldridge has a challenger this year for the open three-year term to serve as Ossipee selectman. Marie McConarty will be on the ballot, offering a choice to voters. That contest is one of just two contested races; Dallas Emery, Jr. and Condict M. Billings are both running for the one-year term on the budget committee. Vacant positions leave open the possibility of write-in candidates or appointment by officials after the election. The town needs a Trustee of the Trust Funds, a Cemetery Trustee, a Supervisor of the Checklist, and a candidate for a three-year term on the budget committee.
Ossipee selectmen denounce mask-shaming police
Dallas Emery (right) speaks during the Ossipee selectmen’s meeting Monday. Selectmen (from left) are Martha Eldridge, Sue Simpson and Jonathan Smith. Behind the camera is Ed Comeau of Governmentoversite.com. Daymond Steer / Conway Daily Sun
Published: 1/27/2021 10:43:00 AM
Mellisa Seamans of Effingham, who took the Ossipee selectmen to task last week over their COVID-19 policies, was referred to by the board Monday as the “mask-shaming police.”
Selectmen then announced they had reversed the vote they took last week to require masks be worn at town hall.
Seamans, who said she knows of 21 people associated with town hall or their family members who contracted COVID-19, had addressed the board at their Jan. 19 meeting, imploring them to follow protocols set down by the state. She said she and her husband, Chris Seamans, an Ossipee Department of Public Works employee, both came down with the virus.
CONWAY — Those who have been watching Conway selectmen s meetings on Zoom or on TV (Valley Vision-Channel 3) may have noticed that four out of five selectmen are wearing masks