ANDOVER — In municipal elections Tuesday, residents ousted a selectman and the fire chief.
Jane C. Rich won a three-year term for selectman with 131 votes. Incumbent Judy Tabb received 91 votes; Lucien Leo Camire, 56, and Dianne Cutting, four.
Town Clerk Melinda Averill said late Tuesday night that Cutting had asked people a few days before the election not to vote for her.
Firefighter Justin Tibbetts, 25, won the fire chief position with 89 write-in votes, beating Chief Rob Dixon, who had 83 votes. A second write-in candidate, Andover Fire Department Deputy Chief Elaine Morton, received 60 votes.
“Justin would have had more votes, but people forgot to check the box after writing in his name,” Averill said. Most of those 57 votes with unchecked boxes were for Tibbetts, although Morton garnered some of them, she said. None of them could be officially counted.
“I’m excited for him,” Averill said of Tibbetts, who is dating her daughter, Kelsey, 19.
Earlier in the day, Averill said she expected the usual 200 voters to visit the polls, but was pleasantly surprised that 289 came out.
The Fire Department was embroiled this past week in a personnel issue that came to light at Saturday’s town meeting when it was raised by Averill, who spoke as a resident and not as a town official.
She said four volunteer firefighters suddenly lost their positions last week, one of whom was her daughter, Kelsey. Later on Saturday afternoon, Dixon would only confirm that one male firefighter was asked to turn in his gear and leave the department. That firefighter was Tibbetts.
But Averill said Saturday that two others quit March 17. But neither Dixon, Averill nor anyone else, including Tibbetts and Morton, were willing to explain what prompted the departures.
Qualifications for Tibbetts that were in a photocopied message left on the information handouts table beside the town meeting room door stated he is an EMT, a firefighter for 10 years with his Firefighter 1 and 2 certificates. The message also noted that he will “continue to encourage young people to be active in the Fire Department,” and that he is serving as one of only three certified EMTs in Andover.
Morton announced her candidacy as a write-in candidate on Monday evening. She said she had been with the Andover Fire Department for 30 years, many of which while she was also an emergency medical technician. She is working to get her EMT license again.
Morton has also been the department’s deputy chief for the past nine years and is in charge of the department’s junior firefighters. “They have earned a reputation within the River Valley for being engaged, hardworking and responsible,” she said.
Mark Farrington won the road commissioner position with 198 votes. Other candidates were Darryl Wells, 62 votes, and David Dolloff, 25 votes.
Longtime Road Commissioner Marshall Meisner chose not to seek re-election.
In uncontested elections, Melinda Averill received 281 votes to be re-elected town clerk and tax collector. Elected to the school board were Linda Presby for a one-year term, 256 votes; Paula Lee for two years, 260 votes; and Albert S. “Pete” Coolidge for three years, 262 votes.
Averill said elected officials take their positions Wednesday.
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