HAVERHILL — Voters appear to have unseated a member of the Selectboard in Australian ballot voting on Tuesday, as six candidates were vying for two seats on the five-member panel.
Selectboard member Fred Garofalo was the top vote-getter, with 298 votes, and Steve Robbins appears to have won a seat as well, with 279 votes, unseating Selectboard member Tom Friel, who had 246 votes. However, Town Clerk Christina Hebert said Friel has asked for a recount.
Former Town Manger Glenn English had 230 votes, Gary Hebert 154 and Chuck Fenn 72.
In the floor portion of Town Meeting on Tuesday night, residents approved a town operating budget of $4.1 million, and also gave their OK to money for a new bridge on Clark Pond Road to replace a failed culvert, $550,000 for reconstruction of French Pond Road, $250,000 to lease a new town grader, and $241,500 to perform a safety study at Dean Memorial Airport and to acquire “aviation easements” for Federal Aviation Administration compliance.
But a proposed pay raise for the Selectboard was rejected.