The Lincoln Squirrel

News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

elections

PTO to host debate for town candidates

The Lincoln PTO will hold a debate featuring candidates in the March 28 town election on Wednesday, March 16 from 7–9 p.m. The event will take place in the newly renovated Brooks Auditorium and will also be live-streamed and recorded.

Moderating the event will be PTO co-chair Rob Stringer and former PTO president Carol Kasper. All of the candidates for the four contested races (Select Board, Lincoln School Committee, L-S School Committee, and Planning Board) have said they will participate, as have most of those who are running uncontested. “We really want everyone to get to know all the candidates,” Stringer said.

Each candidate will have two minutes to introduce themselves and will then face questions from the moderators. There will also be Q&A opportunities for the audience, probably with questions written down and sent to the moderators as with recent Town Meetings.

National issues have trickled down into local politics in many cities and towns, “but we want to make sure it stays civil and nobody feels attacked from the right or the left. We are still neighbors,” Stringer said.

Details and online links will be announced closer to the event.

Several contested seats in upcoming town election

There’s more interest than usual in running for town office this year, as 21 residents filed papers to run for 17 seats in the March 28 election (see table below). The contested races are:

Select Board (two candidates running for one seat) — Incumbent James Craig is stepping down after two terms and Jim Hutchinson and Adam Hogue are competing for that open seat.

Planning Board (three candidates running for two seats) — Incumbents Margaret Olson and Steve Gladstone are running for reelection, and Ephraim Flint is also running. Flint previously served on the Planning Board in the 2000s.

Lincoln School Committee (two candidates running for one seat) — Newcomers Kimberly Rajdev and Joseph Dwyer are vying for the seat of Jen James, who was appointed to fill the seat of Trintje Gnazzo (who resigned mid-term) but is not running for election to a full term. Meanwhile, Adam Hogue (who is on the committee but not up for reelection) is running for a seat on the Select Board. If he wins that seat,  the School Committee and Select Board will appoint an interim member to fill his spot.

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School Committee (three candidates running for two seats) — All three (two incumbents and a challenger) are Sudbury residents. The seats held by Lincoln residents Heather Cowap and Harold Engstrom are not up for reelection this year.

Board/Committee# of SeatsCandidate NameEmail
Board of Assessors1Bruce Campbell*camshaftbc@gmail.com
Board of Health1Steven R. Kanner*drkanner@orchardhealthcare.com
Cemetery Commission1Conrad Todd*robtodd1937@gmail.com
Commissioner of Trust Funds1Douglas B. Harding*dsh1965@verizon.net
Housing Commission1Rakesh Karmacharya*karmacha@hotmail.com
LSRHS School Committee2Maura Cartymauracarty4lssc@gmail.com
Cara Eileen Endyke Doran*caraforlssc@gmail.com
Kevin J. Matthews*kjmatthews05@comcast.net
Parks and Recreation Committee1Thornton Ringtring01@yahoo.com
Planning Board2Ephraim B. Flintebflint@verizon.net
Stephen R. Gladstone*steve.gladstone@gmail.com
Setha Margaret Olson*margaret@margaretolson.com
Lincoln School Committee1Joseph J. Dwyerjaysp51d@gmail.com
Kimberly Rajdevkrajdev@gmail.com
Select Board1Adam M. Hogueadam.m.hogue@gmail.com
James Hutchinsonjmhutch5@hotmail.com
Town Clerk1Valerie Fox*foxv@lincolntown.org
Trustees of Bemis Fund1Sara A. Mattes*samattes@gmail.com
Trustee of Lincoln Library1Ray A. Shepardrayashepard@gmail.com
Water Commission2Ruth Ann Hendrickson*raandbob@earthlink.net
Jason S. Leejasonslee.phd@gmail.com
* incumbent

Town election results: Doo wins seat on Parks and Rec Committee

In the only contested race in the local election on Mach 29, 2021, Brianna Doo beat Evan Gorman for an open seat on the Parks and Recreation Committee by a total of 303–87. However, Gorman also successfully ran for reelection to the Housing Commission.

Offices & CandidatesPrecinct 1Precinct 2Total
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
JENNIFER LANE REASER GLASS268162430
WRITE-IN112
BLANK18725
BOARD OF ASSESSORS
EDWARD H. MORGAN263153416
WRITE-IN101
BLANK231740
BOARD OF HEALTH
PATRICIA E. MILLER259158417
WRITE-IN101
BLANK271239
CEMETERY COMMISSIONER
DOUGLAS B. HARDING259156415
WRITE-IN112
BLANK271340
COMMISSIONER OF TRUST FUNDS
WRITE-IN19928
DONALD COLLINS5611
BLANK263155418
HOUSING COMMISSION
EVAN KARMEL GORMAN251149400
WRITE-IN303
BLANK332154
L-S REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT COMMITTEE
HEATHER-JEANNE COWAP SALEMME259155414
MARY D. WARZYNSKI192114306
WRITE-IN101
BLANK12271193
PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE
BRIANNA MARISA DOO183120303
EVAN KARMEL GORMAN513687
WRITE-IN101
BLANK521466
PLANNING BOARD
GERALD A. TAYLOR253153406
WRITE-IN123
BLANK331548
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
SUSAN HANDS TAYLOR245150395
JOHN A. MACLACHLAN227135362
WRITE-IN101
BLANK10155156
TRUSTEES OF BEMIS
MIRIAM L. BORDEN255155410
WRITE-IN101
BLANK311546
WATER COMISSIONER
JAMES M. HUTCHINSON262157419
WRITE-IN000
BLANK251338

Candidate slate ready for town election in March

The slate for the upcoming town election features several newcomers hoping to win seats after some incumbents decided not to run for reelection, and one contested seat — two candidates are vying for one opening on the Parks and Recreation Commission. All seats are for three-year terms.

Residents can vote in person in the Smith gym from 7:30 a.m.–8 p.m. on Monday, March 29. They may also vote by absentee ballot, or early by mail (this last option has been extended by the legislature).

The election is usually held two days after the Annual Town Meeting, but the ATM this year will be held outdoors on May 15 (details to be announced).

Board/committeeCandidateIncumbent not running for reelection
Board of AssessorsEdward Morgan*
Board of HealthPatricia Miller*
Board of SelectmenJennifer Glass*
Cemetery CommissionDouglas Harding**None (the seat is currently open)
Commissioner of Trust Funds—Donald Collins
Housing CommissionEvan Gorman
LSRHS School CommitteeHeather Cowap SalemmeCarole Kasper
LSRHS School CommitteeMary WarzynskiEllen Joachim
Parks and Recreation CommitteeBrianna Doo, Evan GormanSarah Chester
Planning BoardGerald Taylor*
School CommitteeSusan Taylor*
School CommitteeJohn MaclachlanPeter Borden
Trustees of Bemis FundMiriam Borden*
Water CommissionJim Hutchinson*

* Incumbent running for reelection

** Doug Harding is running for the seat formerly held by his wife Susan, who passed away in 2020.

Volunteers helped count thousands of election ballots cast early

(Editor’s note: This story was written and intended to be posted on Sunday, Nov. 1, but a technical error prevented its timely publication.)

November 1, 2020 — Millions of ballots nationwide are already being tallied in advance of Election Day on Tuesday, and Lincoln is no different. On Sunday, Nov. 1, the Town Clerk staff and volunteers spent hours opening and recording votes submitted via absentee ballot and early in-person voting.

A total of 3,467 votes have been cast (2,111 in precinct 1 and 1,356 in precinct 2). With 5,015 registered voters among Lincoln’s 7,050 residents, that translates to a voter turnout of 69% even before the polls open on Tuesday. Nonetheless, the polls will undoubtedly be busy on Tuesday; voter turnout in the last presidential election in 2016 was almost 86%, according to Town Clerk Valerie Fox.

Sunday’s process involved two sets of volunteers in Town Hall opening ballots, checking them against lists of registered voters, and feeding them into a voting machine that will tabulate the votes but will not display results until the polls have closed at 8 p.m. on November 3.

The pandemic and the passions surrounding this year’s election have galvanized Lincoln voters who are generally quite enthusiastic and involved even in normal years. On the first day of early voting on October 17, “there was a constant line,” Fox said. 

In recent months, there was concern in many towns that there would not be enough help on and before Election Day, since polling volunteers tend to skew older and many senior citizens are wary of Covid-19. But this hasn’t been a problem, as younger residents have filled the gap, including college students who did not go back to campus in September because of the Covid-19 restrictions.

“One of the great things that’s come out of this election is the number of people who have volunteered,” Fox said. “Many seniors are not comfortable [working] on Election Day, but younger people have volunteered, and it’s their time to step in,” Fox said. 

The reliability of the U.S Postal Service amid reports of delivery slowdowns that could have depressed turnout has also been a concern nationwide, “but the Lincoln postal services have been beyond what I could have hoped for — they have been absolutely outstanding,” Fox said. As an example, town postal workers received 2,000 blank ballots on October 7 for distribution residents who requested them — and they were all delivered on the same day. Postal workers are also prioritizing ballots that are postmarked on or before November 3 that don’t arrive that day. If the Town Clerk’s office gets them by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, they’ll still count.

Click the photos below for larger versions and captions:

2020count1
2020count2
2020count3

Lincoln goes for Biden in a blowout as national results still undetermined

Lincoln’s unofficial election results are in, and as expected, Democrat Joe Biden trounced President Donald Trump by a margin of 81% to 19%. Statewide, Biden’s margin of victory was 66% to 33%.

Lincolnites also approved both ballot questions by comfortable margins. However, 55% of voters statewide said no to ranked-choice voting, according to The New York Times. The right-to-repair question passed in Massachusetts with 75% of voters saying yes.

In Lincoln, 4,152 voters cast ballots, or 83% of registered voters. A total of 3,467 (84%) of ballots were cast via absentee ballot, mail in, or early voting.

Click here to see a map outlining Lincoln’s two voting precincts.

Precinct #1Precinct #2Total% of ballots
cast*
U.S. PRESIDENT
Biden & Harris (D)2,0711,3033,37481%
Trump & Pence (R)34132066116%
Hawkins & Walker (Green/Rainbow)13518<1%
Jorgensen & Cohen (Libertarian)321951<1%
U.S. SENATE
Edward Markey (D)2,0261,2683,29479%
Kevin O'Connor (R)42435978319%
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Katherine Clark (D)2,0071,2463,25378%
Caroline Colarusso (R)42036278219%
COUNCILLOR
Marilyn Devaney (D)1,8791,2043,08374%
STATE SENATOR
Michael Barrett1,9811,2553,32678%
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Thomas Stanley (D)1,7651,1372,90270%
George Darcy (I)41429971317%
REGISTER OF PROBATE
Tara deCristofaro (D)1,5991,0662,66564%
QUESTION #1
(Right to repair)
Yes1,9151,2653,18077%
No47133880919%
QUESTION #2
(Ranked-choice voting)
Yes1,5781,0092,58762%
No8015841,38533%

* Totals do not add up to 100% because write-in and blank ballots are not included.

Markey defeats Kennedy handily in Lincoln primary

Lincolnites overwhelmingly voted for incumbent U.S. Senator Edward M. Markey over U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III in the September 1 Democratic primary by a margin of 76%–24%. The margin far exceeded Markey’s statewide result, where he won 55% to 45%.

Interestingly, several other Democratic incumbents (U.S. Rep. Katharine Clark, State Sen. Michael Barrett, and State Rep. Thomas Stanley) each got more votes than Markey, even though all three were running unopposed.

Largely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, almost three-quarters of Lincolnites voted in some nontraditional way (mail-in, absentee ballot, or early voting in person). Of the 2,378 ballots cast, only 630 (24%) were voted on Election Day in the Smith gym.

In the Republican primary, 178 votes were cast. Kevin J. O’Connor edged out Shiva Ayyadurai, 93–82 (52%–46%, not including one write-in and two blank ballots). Though still in the minority, a much larger percentage of Lincoln Republicans (45%) cast their ballots on Election Day compared to the Democrats.

Democratic primary in Lincoln

Precinct 1Precinct 2CTF for
Precinct 1*		CTF for
Precinct 2*		Total
U.S. Senator
Edward J. Markey3141618814451,801
Joseph P. Kennedy III9657253166572
Write-in01102
Blank10023
U.S. Representative
Katherine M. Clark3511789885272,044
Write-in116513
Blank594014181321
Register of Probate
Marilyn M. P. Devaney3151628174431,737
Write-in216514
Blank9456312165627
State Senator
Michael J. Barrett3371719344971,939
Write-in116412
Blank7347195112427
State Representative
Thomas M. Stanley3311658944891,879
Write-in21137
Blank7853240121492
Councillor
Tara E. DeCristoforo3171608404581,775
Write-in115310
Blank9358290152593

*CTF stands for Central Tabulating Facility, which totals all the votes cast by mail, absentee ballot, and early in-person voting.

 

Republican primary in Lincoln

Precinct 1Precinct 1CTF for
Precinct 1*		CTF for
Precinct 2*		Total
U.S. Senator
Shiva Ayyadurai3013201982
Kevin J. O'Connor2115381993
Write-in00011
Blank01102
U.S. Representative
Caroline Colarusso39265130146
Write-in10012
Blank1138830
Councillor
Write-in629522
Blank45275034156
State Senator
Write-in8111424
Blank43284835154
State Representative
Write-in6111422
Blank45284835156
Register of Probate
Write-in5110420
Blank46284935158

*CTF stands for Central Tabulating Facility, which totals all the votes cast by mail, absentee ballot, and early in-person voting.

Planning Board candidates reflect on election result

The candidates in the hard-fought Planning Board race had gracious words for each other and said the election was a good experience for the town, even though it became contentious at times.

“I’d like to congratulate Lynn [DeLisi] and Rick [Rundell] for a good campaign that stuck to the issues,” said Bob Domnitz, who will serve his second stint on the board after winning more votes than Rundell in the three-way race for two seats. “I know some of our supporters were overly enthusiastic, but the candidates took the high road and that’s the way it should be. I’m proud of the entire town for coming out and voting in the numbers they did in this pandemic.”

“I’m impressed that over 800 people felt the issues were important enough to take the trouble to vote under complicated circumstances,” Rundell echoed in a letter posted in LincolnTalk. “I do think an enthusiastically contested election benefits the town by surfacing issues we should be talking about.”

DeLisi, who got the most votes of the three, said she was surprised to finish in first place. “Actually, I thought I would lose,” she said, since much of the campaign discussion focused on Domnitz vs. Rundell rather than DeLisi alone.

DeLisi was co-chair of the South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee, a large group with several subcommittees, one of which was the Village Planning and Zoning team. That team’s proposal for rezoning part of South Lincoln and changing the project approval process to give the board more latitude provoked much criticism. But the full SLPIC group rarely met, and DeLisi said she was not even aware of what the zoning team was suggesting until the process was well along.

“I thought the zoning subcommittee was working on ways to make it easier for businesses to open in town… and not focusing on regulations to help developers build dense condos as well,” DeLisi said. “I’ve never chaired a committee where I didn’t know what was going on, and I clearly did not know what was going on,” she said.

Her SLIPC co-chair was Gary Taylor, who was the board’s representative on the zoning subcommittee (and ironically, the person who beat out Domnitz in another close election in 2015).

Domnitz and DeLisi want to see any future zoning change proposals come from the full Planning Board, not SLPAC (the successor to SLPIC) or a subcommittee.

One thing all three candidates agreed on: the discussion about South Lincoln isn’t over.

“My position was that the town should have the conversation — not just a matter of one group shouting it down before everybody had the chance to engage in it,” Rundell said.

“We’re going to have to talk about South Lincoln and how to sustain what we have there. Maybe we do have to change the zoning, but not in the way it was proposed,” DeLisi said. “I think we need to be speaking to the people who live around there and involve them in the conversation.”

Rundell is out and Domnitz back on Planning Board

In a very close race for Planning Board, incumbent Lynn DeLisi and challenger Bob Domnitz won the two open seats, ousting Rick Rundell, who has been on the board since 2012. Domnitz previously served on the board from 2003–15 but himself was beaten by Gary Taylor in 2015 by a margin of 481-441 (click on ballot image). 

In the June 15 election, residents could vote for two of the three candidates. Domnitz, a Mill Street resident, beat Rundell in Precinct 2 (northern and eastern Lincoln), 459-412, but came in third in Precinct 1. DeLisi garnered the most votes of the three candidates, but Domnitz’s margin in his home precinct was enough to allow him to finish in second place overall, beating Rundell by 47 votes. A total of 806 ballots were cast in the election for a turnout of 17% of registered voters (the Planning Board was the only contested race).

The race was the focus of much townwide debate and campaigning. Over the last year, the board has been at the center of  controversial proposal (since shelved) by one of the South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee’s teams to relax some of the zoning rules for the Lincoln Station area and give the board more power to approve projects that might otherwise have had to go to Town Meeting. 

Unofficial town election results for June 2020 (click to see both pages).

In the June 11 candidate forum, DeLisi and Domnitz roundly criticized the proposal by SLPIC. But Rundell pushed back, noting that the board could not change its decision-making scope without approval at Town Meeting. The SLPIC proposal was originally on the docket when Town Meeting was scheduled for March but were withdrawn before the meeting was rescheduled due to the pandemic. SLPIC then planned to bring a revised proposal to a Special Town Meeting this fall but subsequently shelved the plan entirely. 

During the forum, Rundell characterized himself as a “forward-looking candidate” and said the board’s role should not be “fossilizing the town in a certain state.” 

Ironically, Rundell said in March that he was recruited to the Planning Board shortly after arriving in Lincoln by Domnitz because he felt the board lacked a professional architect. 

The Lincoln Squirrel will interview all three candidates about the results and hopes to publish a story on June 16.

Planning Board candidates square off at well-attended forum

More than 60 residents packed a room (on Zoom) on Thursday night to hear from the three candidates running for two Planning Board seats in the June 15 election. In the forum organized by resident Sharon Antia, the trio answered questions about issues facing the Planning Board and the town more generally: South Lincoln rezoning, how to support businesses during the pandemic, affordable housing, and more.

Challenger Bob Domnitz, a former Planning Board member who was ousted by Gary Taylor in 2015, said he was running to regain his seat when “I realized the Planning Board was serious about bringing a zoning amendment before Town Meeting to make the Planning Board the decision-maker on major projects” by majority vote, he said. “That didn’t fit in with the nature of Lincoln as I knew it, and it’s antithetical to how we operate as a community.”

Under a proposal unveiled last year by a subcommittee of the former South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee (SLPIC), mixed-use projects would be allowed in areas around the mall and the MBTA station with s site plan review and a special permit from the Planning Board. With that permit, housing projects could be up to 20 units per acre, and a greater maximum lot coverage (60% for residential and 100% for business) would be allowed. However, Town Meeting approval would not be required unless a proposed project exceeded the special-permit density.

Incumbent Rick Rundell pushed back, saying it was “an absurd position” to imply that the Planning Board could take away power from Town Meeting without residents’ consent. (The SLPIC proposal was initially slated for a Special Town Meeting vote in the fall, but the Planning Board withdrew its proposal after encountering opposition.)

“How did they misread the character of this town so much that they worked on a proposal to take away Town Meeting authority for major projects?” Domnitz asked later in the forum.

“I had no idea what was going on [with the SLPIC subcommittee proposal] or I would have fought it,” incumbent Lynn DeLisi responded.

Rundell, who said he was recruited to the board in 2013 by Domnitz, argued that its duties should not focus on “fossilizing the town in a certain state” and that it has become more transparent since he was the chairman in 2014-15. The board has also “sunsetted” the requirement for site plan reviews after five years. “Today’s Planning Board has made light-years of progress since 2015,” he said.

Some of the questions focuses on what the Planning Board could do to help the town in this time of Covid-19. Incumbent candidate Lynn DeLisi suggested a public health center somewhere in town to promote vaccination once a vaccine becomes available.

The pandemic is a major challenge for both developers and prospective occupants of affordable housing. However, changing zoning regulations now to encourage more affordable housing and demographic diversity is not a good idea, the candidates agreed.

“I think we need to take a breath, wait a few months, and see how things settle out,” Domnitz said. “We may be heading towards a totally new world or at least a new equilibrium, and we need to go cautiously at this point.”

“I’m not sure the Planning Board can necessarily take the lead and make decisions about any of this. These are dialogues we need to have with people in the town,” DeLisi said.

The bigger question, Rundell said, “is whether we want to put a wall around our community and preserve the status quo… or be a part of a larger society, and I don’t think the town is at all aligned on that choice.”

Social diversity in Lincoln is certainly desirable, “but we can’t legislate that. All we can do is set up economic possibilities to create the kind of diversity we’re talking about,” Domnitz said. However, “getting some geographic diversity on our major boards would be constructive,” he added. Few if any current town board and committee members are residents of North Lincoln — although Domnitz is — “and the view from here is a little different than the view from elsewhere in town.”

As to where and how more affordable housing should be built, “does it have to be developing more dense housing in South Lincoln? I think it can be in other ways,” DeLisi said.

The candidates agreed that the SLPIC subcommittee’s efforts to reimagine South Lincoln were flawed but not about how to fix the process. The “sprawling” nature of SLPIC and its subcommittees meant that the effort was “not as transparent or receptive to input as it could have been,” Rundell acknowledged.

The board voted on June 9 to reconstitute SLPIC as a five-member South Lincoln Planning and Advisory Committee (SLPAC) but disagreed on the size of the new panel and who should be represented on it. Four of the five board members approved a group comprising only elected officials, “but I advocated very strongly for a member to be a resident from the affected area, and I was shot down by the other board members and I don’t understand why,” DeLisi said.

The parent board rather than a subcommittee should be responsible for coming up with future rezoning proposals, even though it will create more work and long meetings, Domnitz said. “This is very important and should take place within the Planning Board itself… the board needs to realize they own what that subcommittee is doing.”

Asked about the 2009 Comprehensive Long-Range Plan that was never acted on, Domnitz said, “The plan is vague, let’s put it that way…  It’s much easier for people to deal with a tangible proposal than an abstract concept.”

“I mark it as a failure of leadership that there was not real follow-up to that plan,” Rundell said. “Absent planning, Lincoln is going to be like a ship in a storm without rudders or sails and will soon find itself on the rocks.”

From the candidates’ opening and closing statements:

“My motto is ‘Responsible planning by collaboration with neighborhoods’ — that says it all.”
— Lynn DeLisi

“The Planning Board is on the wrong track. We need to put it on a better track so something actually happens in South Lincoln.”
— Bob Domnitz

“Respect for the past and planning for the future with integrity, fairness, and transparency…
Look at today’s board and how they operate, and give your vote to a forward-looking candidate.”
— Rick Rundell