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Sweeney Tops
Fagan as Selectman

By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
4/29/10
Tight contests were the order of the day in this year’s annual town election, which resulted in a new selectman and School Committee member.

In a close race, former School Committee member Bob Sweeney edged out Selectman Kathy Fagan for her seat on the board. Sweeney, a retired Boston schoolteacher who served 12 years on the School Committee, said he was seeking transparency and inclusion in the town government.

“My agenda is family, neighborhood and town,” said Sweeney during the live cable broadcast of the April 27 election results.

Sweeney won the seat by 32 votes, with 2,976 votes to Fagan’s 2,944. He won in Precincts 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Fagan, who was seeking her second three-year term as Selectmen, took strong positions on two key political issues. She supported a commercial redevelopment proposal for Temple Shalom’s property and also stated a desire to see affordable housing developed on the Gov. Stoughton property off Canton Avenue.

As a Town Meeting member, Sweeney voted against the Temple’s zoning plan. As a co-chair of the Gov. Stoughton Trust Land Committee, he favored preservation of the land over dense housing.

“I think the results reflect the fact that I took some positions on issues this year, some that were not terribly popular,” Fagan said, although she added, “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Fagan said running for re-election was a “win-win” for her, because it either meant she would serve another three years or she would have more time to spend with her family. She works for the Cradles to Crayons charity.

“Serving on this board, particularly in these modern times, is a tremendous time commitment,” said Selectmen Chair John Shields, who praised Fagan’s work on the board.

Shields said the close margin of defeat is proof that “many, many people agreed with the positions [Fagan] took.”

“Your contributions to the town have been extraordinary,” added School Committee member Beirne Lovely, pointing to Fagan’s work as a Library Trustee during the library-expansion project, and in advocating for last year’s Proposition 2 1/2 override.

Lovely did not seek re-election and there were two School Committee available. Incumbent Glenn Pavlicek overwhelmingly won a bid for re-election, securing 3,000 votes and winning in all precincts to secure a third three-year term. Political newcomer Denis Keohane won the second seat with 2,008 votes, while Margaret Eberhardt came in a close third with 1,963 votes and J. Murray Regan finished fourth.

Lovely said Pavlicek, who was first elected in 2003, has been a “source of stability” on the School Committee during fiscally difficult times.

Keohane, who owns a real estate development company, campaigned on his experience in handling budgets and contract negotiations.

“This is really important to me. I feel like I belong on this committee,” said Keohane, a 16-year resident who has three daughters in the Milton schools.

In another close contest, Planning Board member Ed Duffy managed to hold off his challenger, Cheryl Tougias. Duffy, a 10-year incumbent on the board, won by just 45 votes over Tougias, a registered architect. Tougias, who served last year on an advisory committee to the Planning Board, was in support of the Temple redevelopment proposal. Duffy, who was one of two Planning Board members against it, won in Precinct 1, that neighborhood’s voting district.

Longtime incumbent Kathleen Heffernan won re-election over challengers Todd Greenwood and James Henderson.

In the only other contested race, Edward Villard and Justin O’Shea won positions as town constable, edging out incumbents Eric Issner and Gary Nunley. Incumbents Tamara Berton and Stephen Freeman won re-election.

Town Moderator Brian Walsh, Treasurer James McAuliffe, Cemetery Trustee Anthony Sammarco, Board of Health member Anne Fidler and three incumbents on the Board of Library Trustees – Hyacinth Crichlow, Ingrid Shaffer and Janet Evans – all ran unopposed.

About 34 percent of voters cast a ballot, slightly less than the 37 percent predicted by Town Clerk James Mullen Jr. In all, 6,047 of 17,685 registered town voters participated in this year’s election.

During the campaign, several residents told the Times that their front-lawn political signs went missing. At least one was reported as stolen.

(Town Meeting results will appear in our May 6, 2010 print edition. For more on town-wide results, see the chart on Page 14 of our April 29, 2010 print edition.)