Waterbury, Duxbury offices come up short for candidates

January 29, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti 

Voting for local elections in Waterbury will be held at Brookside Primary School from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. onm March 4, Vermont Town Meeting Day. File photo

Monday was the filing deadline for candidates to get their names on the Town Meeting Day ballot, but there still are multiple local offices in Waterbury and Duxbury with no contenders to be listed. 

Waterbury’s Select Board openings have attracted one contest with three candidates filing to run for two one-year seats. However, only two candidates have stepped up to run for Waterbury’s four seats on the Harwood School Board -- all of which are to be filled this year due to last year’s three appointments.  

In Duxbury, the three incumbents whose terms are ending on the Duxbury Selectboard are departing and only one candidate has filed to run for one of the open seats. Unless others decide to run as write-ins before March 4, the five-member board could find itself seeking two people to appoint for the next year. 

Waterbury elections

Waterbury each year typically has three select board seats on the ballot given that the board has three three-year terms and two one-year terms. As of Monday’s filing deadline, three candidates have filed to run for the two one-year seats, according to Town Clerk Karen Petrovic. Incumbent Mike Bard, who is ending a three-year term, is looking to run for just a single year position alongside newcomer Evan Hoffmann and Victoria Taravella, whose three-year term on the Harwood School Board is ending.

Selectboard Vice Chair Kane Sweeney has run successfully for one-year terms twice and is now the single candidate who filed seeking the three-year seat. 

Petrovic reports that there are no other contests for the other town positions on Waterbury’s March ballot. Incumbents Alec Tuscany, Jill Chase and Erin Mooney have all filed to run for re-election to the Board of Listers, Cemetery Commission and Library Commission respectively. Petrovic noted, however, that the Cemetery Commission has two openings with just one candidate. 

More recruiting will be needed to fill Waterbury’s seats on the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board. All four of the positions are up for election this year due to appointments in 2023. An appointment lasts just one year regardless of the amount of time remaining on a term. 

Current board members Elizabeth Brown, who was appointed last April, and Taravella are not seeking election. 

Corey Hackett, who was appointed to the board in April, has filed to run for a seat with two years remaining on its term. Robert Dabrowski has filed to run for the full three-year open board seat. There are no candidates seeking the other two seats that have either one or two years remaining on their terms.    

School board member Dan Roscioli, also appointed in 2023, said he did not file to get on the March ballot due to a busy schedule and family issues. He said he may consider running as a write-in or volunteering for an appointment should the election not fill all of the positions.  

Duxbury Selectboard: Three openings 

Voting in Duxbury is done via drive-through. File photo

Duxbury not only has no contested offices for the March ballot, it’s coming up short for any candidates interested in some key positions including two seats on its selectboard and a seat on the Harwood School Board. 

Three selectboard seats are up for election this year and all three incumbents are not running for re-election: Chair Richard Charland, board Secretary Jerry McMahon who has served several terms, and member Crystal Sherman, first elected in 2024 to a one-year seat. 

Former selectboard member and Chair Mari Pratt has filed to run for a one-year seat. No other candidates filed for the one- and three-year terms on the ballot, according to Town Clerk Maureen Harvey. 

Life LeGeros, one of Duxbury’s two members on the Harwood School Board, is not running for re-election. No one has filed to seek that office, Harvey said. 

Most of the other offices that will be on the ballot have attracted one candidate, Harvey said. The other key position where no one has filed is a five-year opening on the town Budget Committee. Harvey noted that the Budget Committee is a small time commitment compared with other town offices given that its work is focused on drafting the budget for the selectboard to complete. 

Other school board openings 

The Harwood School Board has a total of eight of its 14 seats on the March 4 ballots across five of its six towns. In addition to the four positions in Waterbury and one in Duxbury, one seat each is up for election in Fayston, Waitsfield and Warren. 

The Fayston seat has attracted two contenders, according to Town Clerk Madison Vasseur.  Rebecca Baruzzi and Molly Bagnato both filed petitions by the Monday deadline. They will be running to succeed Danielle Duquette, whose term is ending this year and she is not seeking re-election. 

In Warren and Waitsfield, both incumbents have filed to run for re-election and neither has any competition. Ashley Woods, who currently serves as the school board’s chair has filed to run for the Warren seat, and Bobbi Rood is seeking another term to represent Waitsfield. 

Neither of the two school board positions in Moretown are up for election this year. School board terms are three years. Terms with shorter lengths occur when members are appointed to fill a vacancy. 

Running as a write-in

Candidates may still come forward in their communities to run as write-ins for any of the offices to be filled on the March 4 ballots. 

To win election as a write-in, the candidates needs to receive a minimum of either 30 votes or a number equal to 1% of their town’s registered voters, whichever is less -- and be the top vote-getter in the contest. That number mirrors the requirement for signatures candidates need to collect to file to have their name on the ballot. 

For example, a write-in candidate in Waterbury would need at least 30 votes; a write-in candidate in Duxbury would need just 12 votes. Waterbury has over 4,500 registered voters; Duxbury has just under 1,200. 

Offices that remain vacant after election day are filled by appointment by their respective boards with appointments running until Town Meeting Day 2026.