Swampscott Voters Choose 2 New Select Board Members

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — A veteran member of Swampscott boards and commissions and a town government newcomers are the two newest electees to the Select Board.

MaryEllen Fletcher and Katie Phelan will fill the two open seats on the Select Board after taking the top two spots in the three-way race on Tuesday.

According to unofficial results, Fletcher was the top vote-getter with 1,212 ballots cast in her favor, while Phelan was second at 1,013. Kimberly Martin-Epstein finished third with 880 votes.

The three were vying for two open seats after Select Chair Polly Titcomb opted to run for state representative in the 8th Essex District and Donald Hause decided against running for another term.

Fletcher earned the most votes in five of the six precincts with Phelan coming in as the top vote-getter in Precinct 3 by just seven votes over Martin-Epstein. Phelan edged Martin-Epstein by between 12 and 22 votes in four of the other five precincts with a wider, 147-94 margin in Precinct 1.

"Congratulations to Mary Ellen and Katie," Martin-Epstein said in a statement to Patch. It was an honor to run with such hard-working and dedicated women. I truly want only the best for Swampscott and I look forward to the future for us."

Fletcher has served as Vice-Chair of the Swampscott Finance Committee, is an Association of Town Finance Committees board member, a town meeting member, Chair of the Recreation Department, Article 6 Committee and a member of the Harbor and Waterfront Committee.

"Can't thank you enough for coming out to vote!" Fletcher posted on her campaign page Tuesday night.

Phelan is a 36-year-old mother of two who is an in-house counsel for Global Partners of Waltham and was seeking her first municipal elected office.

In the other contested race of the night, Sean Regan bested George Patsios in the race for an open seat on the Housing Authority. Regan earned 1,039 votes with Patsios getting 642.

There were several other uncontested races on the ballot — including School Committee where Amy O'Connor and Carin Marshall were running as incumbents for two seats — as well as a vote for town meeting members.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)