Bauer wins race for Mattapoisett Select Board

May 18, 2021

MATTAPOISETT — The voters have decided: Jodi Lynn Bauer will be Mattapoisett’s newest Select Board member.

Of the 5,593 eligible voters in town, 1,994 — about 35.7% — turned out to vote in Tuesday’s Town Election.

Bauer won retiring Board Chair Paul Silva’s seat with 1,154 votes. Her competitor, Nicki Demakis, earned 821 votes. There were no write-ins, but 19 voters left the ballot question blank.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Bauer said. “It’s been a long few months.”

She said the election had one of the better turnouts she’d seen in her lifetime in Mattapoisett.

“Watching the cars today … this was just overwhelming,” Bauer said. “People — all day — in the rain.”

Bauer said she believes name recognition and her prior experience in town government helped secure the election.

Now, she said, “even more so I’m going to be involved.”

Bauer said she’s “honored to have the city of Mattapoisett” trust her with the position.

While Bauer’s victory brings a replacement for Silva on the board, the late John DeCosta’s position on the board remains empty. The town will hold a special election on July 27 to fill the position.

In the three-way race for two positions on the Mattapoisett School Committee, incumbent Jim Muse and newcomer Tiffini Reedy came out on top with 1,178 and 877 votes, respectively. Eric Beauregard received 811 votes.

Garrett Bauer, son of the newly elected Jodi Lynn Bauer, won the race for highway Surveyor with 1,148 votes. His competitor, Gary Bowman, received 766.

In a three-way race for two positions on the Board of Library trustees, incumbents Elizabeth Sylvia and William Osier were elected with 1,170 and 983 votes respectively. Competitor Jennifer Shepley received 867 votes.

Voters also decided — 1,057 votes to 634 — to allow the town to borrow $450,000 under a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion to improve Main Street, Water Street, Beacon Street and Marion Road.

Selectmen hope to be able to fund the project without the need to borrow, but the vote allows the town to raise taxes by more than 2.5% annually while the debt is being paid off. Over 15 years, the debt would cost the average household under $10 a year.

There were also a number of uncontested incumbents on the ballot.

Leonard Coppola was reelected as Assessor with 1,423 votes; John Elkund received 1,531 votes for Moderator, Albert Meninno Jr. retained a spot on the Water and Sewer Commission with 1,441 votes; Karen Field received 1,521 votes for the Planning Board, Russell Bailey was reelected to the Board of Health with 1,473 votes; Leda Kim earned 1,433 votes for the Mattapoisett Housing Authority; Michelle Hughes and Charles McCollough received 1,470 and 1,359 votes respectively for the Community Preservation Commission.