Temple said no to SB2 again, voting to stay with the traditional Town Meeting format during ballot voting on Tuesday.
There were 216 votes in favor of adopting SB2, and 278 against. The measure requires a three-fifths majority to pass.
Ivy Bibler said while running a write-in campaign for the Budget Advisory Committee on Tuesday said that she was voting against SB2.
“A vote against SB2 is a vote for the closeness of the community,” Bibler said. “And right now, we need that closeness of community.”
George Willard, who was elected to the Select Board Tuesday, said he has always supported maintaining the traditional Town Meeting format.
“I’ve been attending Town Meeting since I was 10 years old, back in 1950,” Willard said while campaigning on Tuesday.
Willard is a former Selectman. He will be re-joining the board this year, after unseating incumbent Gail Cromwell during ballot voting in Temple on Tuesday.
Willard won by a 324-180 vote, taking the seat Cromwell has held since 2013.
“Congratulations to George Willlard,” Cromwell wrote in an email to the Ledger-Transcript on Wednesday. “I have enjoyed serving the town of Temple for 14 years and wish nothing but the best to my town going forward.”
Willard has Select Board experience, having been on the board from 2014 to 2017. Willard was unseated by current board member Bill Ezell in a narrow vote in 2017.
Cromwell will remain involved with town politics, however, as she was elected to one of the two open seats for a three-year position on the town’s budget advisory committee, along with Christine Robidoux.
The Budget Advisory Committee also had a two-year position open. While there was no official contender on the ballot, Mike Darnell and Bibler both ran write-in campaigns and campaigned at the Town Hall on voting day. Bibler gained 63 votes, but Darnell won the day with 127 votes.
“I’ve been out of town politics since 2014, and I thought I’d jump back in and help a little with the town budget,” Darnell said while campaigning in front of the Town Hall on Tuesday.
In the only other contested race on the ballot, Peter Allen will be the town’s new Treasurer, beating out opponent Angela Sones in a 238-187 vote.
The only zoning amendment on the ballot passed by a wide margin. The article included a new definition for motor vehicle junkyards and replaced the town’s rules on junkyards with the state laws.
The remainder of the town’s warrant will be addressed at Town Meeting on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Temple Elementary School.