Town Election Decided by Less Than 15 Percent of Voters

It took barely over an hour for the votes in Norwood to be counted Monday night for the Town Election, with a 14.12 percent voter turnout.

In the Town Hall, NPA-TV Election Night hosts Jack McCarthy, Joe Curran and Tim McDonough commented on the lack of enthusiasm.

"There didn't seem to be a lot of excitement in the air," Mccarthy said.

Curran predicted the turnout to be less than 20 percent, and said that it gets worse every year. McDonough called it, "one of the quietest elections that we've seen...."

Of the many names and town positions on the ballot, there were two contested races: one for the two available seats on the School Committee and one for the two available seats on the Library Board of Trustees.

James "Jim" Gormley and Paul Samargedlis were voted onto the School Committee (with 1,335 and 1,420 votes respectively). Both were previously members of the committee but this was Gormley's first election, as he was appointed to the committee before. Third in the votes was current member Richard "Dick" Kief (865), followed by the late Mitch Pentowski, who passed away last Friday, March 30, who received 249 votes.

Kief was however elected as a Town Meeting Member for District 4, and told the hosts he would continue to serve the town from that seat, saying he was "...a little disappointed, but the people speak and we go by what the people say."

Samargedlis thanked his wife for her support and said that there is a lot of work to be done for Norwood Public Schools.

"I want to try and lead the School Committee," he said. "I want to try my hardest, just like I did in this campaign."

In the Library Board race, current member Sarah Begg and newcomer Patricia Reardon were the victors, with 1,119 and 970 votes respectively.

McDonough emphasized the need for citizens to continue to be involved in the town government by voting.

"For those people who didn't go out and vote today, there's absolutely no excuse," he said.