Bill Chiasson, Danny Stair win seats on Athol, Petersham boards

Athol resident Bill Chiasson will reprise his role as a member of the Selectboard following a strong win in Monday’s Special Election.

Chiasson bested fellow candidates Jon Costa, Russell Raymond and Jeffrey Raymond, earning 263 votes out of the 426 cast. Two of the ballots were blanks and one vote was a write-in for Leanne Rondeau. Only 4.5% of the town’s 9,498 registered voters made it to the polls.

Costa received 70 votes, while Russell Raymond and Jeffrey Raymond received 65 and 25 votes, respectively.

The Special Election was held to fill the vacancy created by Andy Sujdak’s sudden resignation in April. Sujdak resigned after a video was posted to social media in which he made disparaging remarks about town officials and threatened an unnamed person.

Chiasson was first elected to the board in 2019 and resigned early in 2021 to move to Florida.

“I’m thankful for and appreciate all of the support I received – people who let me put up lawn signs and talked to me about running,” Chiasson said.

As for the results, Chiasson said he was amazed, noting he garnered around 61% of the vote in a four-person race.

“That’s hard to come up with,” he said. “Statistically, it’s hard to come up with anything over 50%, so I was shocked at that.”

Chiasson did say he was disappointed by the low turnout.

“It was a surprise that that number was as low as it turned out to be,” he said. “But it was a special election, and special elections do have that tendency to draw a lower turnout than an annual election might draw.”

Chiasson’s first meeting on the board will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 16.

“I’m looking forward to reconnecting with the other members of the board and getting back to work,” he said. “I’m hoping we can improve things in town overall for all the departments and for all the townspeople.”

Stair elected to Petersham board by single vote

While Chiasson saw a strong win in Athol, the vote to fill a vacancy on the Petersham Selectboard couldn’t have been any closer.

The official tally from the Special Election on Monday shows write-in candidate Danny Stair edging out James Carmody, whose name appeared on the ballot, by a single vote – 82-81. There were four blanks. The seat on the board opened up following the resignation of Josh Cayea earlier this year.

Attempts to reach Carmody were not successful.

Stair, who identifies as a trans man, expressed appreciation for the community support.

“It’s been interesting, because I grew up in Petersham. People have known me my whole life,” said Stair. “They’ve known me through my transition and still hold me in high regard, and I really appreciate that.”

Stair also understands he is one of the few openly trans elected officials in the Commonwealth.

“There aren’t a lot of trans people who get the opportunity to serve on a selectboard,” he said. “I feel very honored to be in a position where, as a trans person, I’m able to be a voice for many people of different backgrounds and origins. It feels good.”

Stair said he hopes the victory serves as an inspiration to others to get involved at the local level.

“Hopefully, younger people will get involved in the community in a number of different ways,” Stair, 31, said. “We could really benefit from having their voices heard.”

As for more immediate concerns, Stair said, “I want to connect immediately with the other Selectboard members and really get more knowledge on what’s happening in the town. I’m looking forward to my first meeting on Thursday and really getting into gear and getting to know what’s going on.”

Contacted the morning after the election, Town Clerk Diana Cooley said she had not yet been contacted by Carmody asking for recount. Cooley said she asked her poll workers Monday night if they were “absolutely sure” of their count, adding that they all replied in the affirmative.

According to Cooley, 167 of the town’s approximately 1,100 registered voters cast ballots in Monday’s election.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.