Incumbent Select Board member Makepeace-O’Neil turns back write-in challenge

SHUTESBURY — Incumbent Select Board member Melissa I. Makepeace-O’Neil earned a fourth, three-year term in Saturday’s town election, turning back a challenge from write-in candidate Tom Siefert, according to unofficial results provided by the town clerk’s office.

Makepeace-O’Neil, who was first elected to the Select Board in 2016, received 227 votes to the 115 votes earned by Siefert. 

Nettie Anne Harrington Pangallo won the position as the town’s moderator after incumbent Paul Lyons opted against seeking reelection.

Others elected uncontested were incumbent Nathaniel Charles Longcope and newcomer Katrina Catalano for two, three-year seats on the School Committee; incumbent Catherine Hilton to a three-year seat on the Board of Health; incumbents Bradley R. Foster and Michele Regan-Ladd for two, three-year seats as library trustees; incumbent James Cochran Hemingway for a three-year seat on the Municipal Light Plant Board; and incumbents Ashleigh Laura Pyecroft and Robert Keith Hastie II for two, three-year seats on the Planning Board.

The 358 voters who cast ballots represented a 23% turnout of the of 1,564 registered voters.

— SCOTT MERZBACH