Challenged Seats in the Burlington Town Election

The race for the April Burlington Town Election is underway and currently it looks like there will be four contested board and committee seats and seven contested Town Meeting seats.

Today is the final day to pull papers to run for a town office and all papers, with signatures, are due back at the Town Clerk's office in Town Hall on Monday, Feb. 27. The town election will be held April 14 in the Burlington High School gym.

So who are the candidates in contested races?

For the Board of Selectmen there are two open seats and four candidates who have pulled papers. Incumbents Ralph Patuto and Daniel DiTucci are both running for re-election. Also entering the race are Michael Runyan and Virginia Mooney. Runyan ran last year and came in a close second to current board member Daniel Grattan in a contest that was so close it required an official recount that ended in a four vote difference. Mooney has run multiple times and served on the board from 1988 to 1991.

The School Committee will also be a contested race. Incumbent Michael DeSimone is up for re-election and he will likely be challenged by Town Meeting member Joanne Frustaci. Frustaci has pulled papers but has not yet returned them with the required signatures, according to the town clerk's office.

The Planning Board has two open seats and four new candidates running to fill them. Neither outgoing incumbent is currently listed as challenging their seat. The candidates are David Castellano, Neil Kane, Town Meeting Member John Kelly and Town Meeting Member Barbara L'Heureux.

The Library Board of Trustees also looks to be a contested race. There are currently two seats up for election and three candidates who have pulled papers. Incumbents Paula Bendard and Eileen Sickler have pulled papers, and Sickler has returned them. Potential challenger Janet Hurley has pulled papers but has not returned them, according to the town clerk's office. 

Currently, though some town meeting precincts have more open seats than candidates, a few have contested elections. Precincts 1, 2, 4 and 5 all have six open three-year seats and seven candidates. Precinct 3 also has one one-year seat up for election and three potential candidates. Precinct 4 also has one two-year seats up and two candidates and two one-year seats up for election and three candidates.

Click on the PDF file on the right for a complete list of all open seats and the candidates who have pulled papers to fill them. You can also see who has thus far returned papers (ignore the wrong deadline of Feb. 22 on the document).

Patch coverage and letters to the editor:

Throughout the election Burlington Patch will cover debates between candidates and will do separate stories on each candidate for a major position.

We also would like readers to get involved to ensure the election coverage is targeted to those who must make the decision in the polls. We will also be asking candidates to fill out a question and answer sheets and we'd like your help coming up with the questions. If you have a question you would like to ask the candidates of a particular race, email them to Richard.Hosford@Patch.com. We will use as many as we can and pose them to the candidates.

Finally, readers, candidates and their supporters can get involved by submitting letters to the editor. Those can also be send to Richard.Hosford@Patch.com. In order to ensure fairness as the election approaches, we are going to set up a deadline of Tuesday, April 10 as the final day to submit letter, the final batch of which will run the following day. No letter submitted after midnight on April 10 will be run before the election.