Hugo, Kelly Elected to Framingham School Committee

Jason Smith was elected to his fourth term to the Framingham Board of Selectmen, Tuesday night, April 7.

Smith received 1,664 votes. His challenger Town Meeting member Jim Pillsbury received 777 votes, according to unofficial results released from the Framingham Town Clerk’s office. (Results will be certified soon.) Smith won all 18 Precincts.

Voters also re-elected Framingham School Committee Chair Beverly Hugo and elected newcomer Jim Kelly to the 7-member Framingham School Committee. (Andy Limeri chose not to run for re-election to the School Committee.)

All three will be at work tonight, April 8, as both Framingham Selectmen ( 7 p.m. at the Memorial Building) and Framingham School Committee (7 p.m. at the King Building) are meeting. All three will need to be sworn in by Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey.

Voters turnout was extremely low in the Town of Framingham election.

Only 7 percent of the town’s 35,814 voters cast a ballot in the 18 precincts in town.

Precincts 2, 4, 6 and 11 had 10 percent voters turnout each. Precinct 17 had the worst voters turnout, with just 11 voters out of a possible 1.145 voters.

Across Framingham, there were a total of 2,558 votes cast. In comparison, there are about 2,000 students enrolled at Framingham High School.

Mulvey described the turnout as “disappointing.”

Assistant Town Clerk Lisa Ferguson, however, said it was not the lowest turnout ever for a town election. A few years back, there was only a 3.46 percent turnout.

There were three candidates for School Committee on the ballot for two 3-year seats.

Hugo topped the ticket with 1,476 votes. Kelly finished second with 1,444 votes. Challenger Scott Wadland, who said he will run for School Committee again in April 2016, received 1,198 votes in his first race. There were 988 blank votes, which means many voters only voted for one candidate.

“I’m humbled and so appreciative of the faith and trust that the voters have bestowed upon me,” said Hugo, outside the Town Clerk’s office Tuesday night. ”It was a long and difficult, sometimes contentious process. The voters had a tough choice. My fellow contenders were all in the race for the right reasons - our children, our schools, and our community.”

Kelly, celebrating at his home with family and friends, said he was “very appreciative of the support from voters.”

The father of two boys in the Framingham Public School system said voters “placed value on new ideas and a new direction, but also respected experience.”

Kelly won Precincts 3, 5, 6, 9, 12 and 15. Hugo and Kelly tied in Precinct 13 with 54 votes each.

Hugo, has about the same number of years experience on the Committee as her six other Committee members combined. The second senior member on the Committee is now Heather Connolly, who will start her fourth year tonight.

Kelly said he can’t wait to start working on “moving the district forward” and making sure the district focuses on the children.

”I reaffirmed my pledge of a full-time commitment and passion for public education and the children of Framingham,” said Hugo. ”We have many success in the district but we also have many challenges and opportunities for growth. Now, the hard work begins.”

The Framingham School Committee is expected to take a vote tonight on the Superintendent of School’s recommend budget of $116.5 million, which is above he $114.9 million the town’s Chief Financial Officer is recommending.

Kelly, said he will abstain on that vote, as he starts to learn as much as he can about the budget, the district, and its operations.

Voters on Tuesday also re-elected James Cameau and John Evans III to the Keefe Technical School Committee.

There were three 3-year seats on the ballot. Two candidates ran write-in campaigns. Mulvey said those write-in votes would not be counted until Wednesday.

Town Moderator Teri Banerjee received the most votes in Tuesday’s election with 1,882 votes for re-election for a 1-year term. There were 655 blank votes.

Planning Board members Thomas Mahoney and Stephanie Mercandetti were both re-elected to the 5-member Board. Mahoney topped the ticket with 1,750 votes. Mercandetti received 1,622 votes. There were 1,721 blank votes.

There were four candidates for Library Trustee also seeking re-election for four seats. Maria Barry topped the ticket with 1,620 votes. Eric Doherty finished second, Janet Harrington third, and Nancy Coville Wallace fourth with 1,600 votes.

Kathleen Griffith won re-election to the Edgell Grove Cemetery as a Trustee for 5-years and Peter Whiting won a 1-year Trustee seat to the Edgell Grove Cemetery.

Precinct by Precinct Town Meeting seats results were not expected until sometime today, April 8, said Framingham Town Clerk Mulvey. Patch will publish those when available.

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Photo: Smith family celebrates Jason Smith re-election to the Framingham Board of Selectmen for his fourth term. Photo Credit: Janet Leombruno