TOWN ELECTION: Foxborough Voters Elect Change to Board of Selectmen, School Committee

Editor's note: All town election results are currently unofficial. Foxborough Patch will publish the official results when they become available at the Town Clerk’s Office.

Incumbents Lynda Walsh and Martha Slattery were the longest members of their respective boards (selectmen and school committee) heading into Tuesday’s election.

By day’s end, neither was re-elected – much to the surprise of many, including their challengers.

“Trying to unseat an incumbent is a real difficult task,” said selectman candidate John Gray, Jr., who defeated Walsh by 182 votes (1,796-1,614) Tuesday. “I’m just pleasantly surprised and grateful to all the folks who have helped me out.”

For Walsh, the news was heartbreaking.

"I'm disappointed," she said before leaving the polling area with supporters.

Walsh briefly reflected on her time as selectman at the April 23rd board meeting with other members.

"I’ve worked with six boards and this board had some things to overcome and I think we did," Walsh said at last week's board meeting. "Things could have gone really bad really quickly after the episodes of last year but they didn’t and I think it is because of the commitment we each have to the town. At the end of the day that’s what it’s about."

James DeVellis, re-elected to a second term Tuesday, was the top vote getter in the three-candidate selectmen’s race with 2,287.

DeVellis said while he’s looking forward to working with Gray he will miss working with Walsh.

“Lynda is a personal friend of mine,” DeVellis said. “I’ve known her longer than I’ve been a selectman. She’ll be missed by many in town and represents a group in Foxborough that is hard to represent unless you grew up here. She’s grown up here, she’s gone through the school system, she’s built a strong relationship with the veterans and seniors and that’s going to be a hard void to fill. It will be tough to do.”

Gray was appreciative of Walsh’s six years of service as a member of the Board of Selectmen.

“I congratulate Lynda for the time she dedicated to the town,” Gray said. “She did a great job, she’s a nice lady, and she really loves Foxborough. It was a tough battle and I thought it was going to be down to a few votes.”

DeVellis and Gray each said they are ready to turn the page on campaigning and the election and get to work as selectmen.

“I look forward to [the next three years],” DeVellis said. “There’s a lot of good ideas that are coming down the road for Foxborough and I think we can capitalize on them. … We have a meeting next Tuesday and we start again.”

Said Gray: “The Board of Selectmen is already comprised of a lot of talented people and I have to join that team and my role is to help shape the town so Foxborough becomes a better town for the future.

“Most of the policy decisions that come out of the Board of Selectmen has an accumulative effect on our quality of life so I am going to pay attention to that and make sure the decisions that we make are consistent with our vision for the town.”

Similar to the town’s selectmen race, voters chose to re-elect one existing member and one new member to Foxborough's School Committee Tuesday.

Incumbent Katie Adair received the most votes in the four-candidate race for two school committee seats with 1,748. Challenger Stephen Udden was able to unseat incumbent Martha Slattery, who entered Tuesday’s election with 15 years of service on the committee, by 250 votes (1,583-1,333).

“I don’t know if the word is stunned but I’m very surprised,” Udden said following Tuesday’s win. “There is a legacy in this town of people who have been on this school committee that may not be now because of [Tuesday’s] election who I am especially grateful for.”

Udden added he is ready to get to work for the town, its voters and especially its students.

“The people in town have given me a level of trust that is the most flattering thing outside of my wife accepting my marriage proposal and the birth of my children,” Udden said. “I hope I am able to serve the town the way I want to with all my heart and for the benefit of the children and the families in this town.”

Now that Udden has been elected, his first order of business is to find a replacement as Foxborough’s representative on the Southeastern Regional Vocational School Committee in Easton.

“The first order of business is a call to action for the town to really dig down deep and sincerely think about filling the seat I hold and treasure on the Southeastern Regional school board as Foxborough’s representative,” Udden said. “It’s OK to hold both seats but to do both jobs well I can only have one. We need to get someone to come quickly to help the students in our town that are attending that school and their families and that school system. I hope someone can come forward quickly so I can help them acclimate and get them into it quickly.”

The election’s school committee fourth candidate, Kate Kominsky, received 951 votes.

3,204 of Foxborough's 11,229 registered voters (28.5 percent) made it to the polls for Tuesday's town election, a couple hundred less than Town Clerk Robert Cutler had expected.

In addition to the town election, Foxborough also held the special US Senate primary Tuesday. Locally, voters chose Democrat Stephen Lynch over Ed Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez over Michael Sullivan and Dan Winslow. However, the state collectively chose Markey to face off against Gomez in the June 25th US Senate election to replace John Kerry.

3,156 of Foxborough's 11,229 registered voters (28 percent) participated in the Special State Primary Election.

Unofficial 2013 Foxborough Town Election Results:

Moderator (3 years)

(Winner) - Francis J. Spillane

2,479

Town Clerk (3 years)

(Winner) - Robert E. Cutler, Jr.

2,562

Selectmen (3 years; Elect 2)

(Winner) - James J. Devellis

2,287

Lynda A. Walsh

1,614

(Winner) - John R. Gray, Jr.

1,796

Assessor (3 years)

(Winner) - Robert J. Hadge

2,312

School Committee Member (3 years; Elect 2)

(Winner) - Kathleen F. Adair

1,748

Martha P. Slattery

1,333

Catherine Maureen Owens Kominsky

951

(Winner) - Stephen P. Udden

1,583

School Committee Member (2 years)

(Winner) - Christina M. Belanger

2,327

Water & Sewer Commissioner (3 years)

(Winner) - Robert T. Garber

2,331

Board of Health Member (3 years)

(Winner) - Eric S. Arvedon

2,337

Boyden Library (3 years; Elect 2)

(Winner) - Susan M. Burlone

2,309

(Winner) - Joseph P. Lally

2,301

Planning Board Member (3 years)

(Winner) - Ronald P. Bresse

2,342

Housing Authority Member (5 years)

(Winner) - Susan E. Perez

2,300