Hopkinton Selectmen Fill Board of Library Trustees

With some hesitation but ultimately an agreement to resolve a lingering issue, selectmen and the Board of Library Trustees Monday night voted to fill two seats on the Board of Library Trustees that have remained empty since the May 16 annual town election.

The candidates were appointed for one-year terms. An election for three library seats, one for two years and two for one year, will take place at the 2012 town election.

June Harris, one of the candidates who received more than 1,000 votes but was not elected because of a tie with Leda Arakelian, applied for and was approved as one trustee.

Arakelian, a Patch contributor, decided since the election not to seek the other seat.

Stanley Pulnik, a write-in candidate on May 16 who received about 25 votes, notified the town Monday he would apply to be appointed to a trustees seat. He too, after some discussion about his 11th-hour application, was appointed Tuesday night.

Harris and Arakelian were tied for second place, but because the election's rules designated the second vote-getter for a three-year term, and the third vote-getter for a two-year term, the state Election Commission declared that there was a failure to elect either candidate.

The ruling's fallout included the resignation of Assistant Town Clerk Deborah Holbrook, Town Clerk Ann Click's discovery of an uncounted absentee ballot that required a court order to open (not changing the trustees' outcome), and Arakelian's decision not to pursue a seat on the Library Board of Trustees.

As its last order of business Tuesday night, selectmen lifted a hiring freeze, which has been in place for two years, on the assistant town clerk's job. Their vote will allow Click to replace Holbrook.