DERRY | The election is over, but the new Town Councilors will inherit a town that is still divided.

The Charter Commission's proposal to let residents vote on the budget and big-ticket bonds failed by only 45 votes on Tuesday night, in an election that brought out twice as many voters as last year. Commission members said Wednesday that despite the close vote, they won't call for a recount.

Bringing the town and the council back together will require listening to the people, communicating with them better and focusing on goals, newly elected councilors said.

"There was certainly no mandate in any election yesterday. We have a very divided town," said newly elected Town Councilor Brent Carney. "I think everybody needs to take a collective deep breath and start focusing on what needs to get done right now."

Brian Chirichiello said his year as council chairman showed him that people want to participate, and the council needs to listen to them and provide them with more information.

"Even though some people thought it was dividing the town, a lot of information was shared with people," Chirichiello said of the charter proposal campaign. "You've got to give people different avenues of information and different formats."

Chirichiello said he thought relations on the council might settle down a bit now that the election is over.

"I think now that the three seats are gone, I'm hoping that we can focus more in on what needs to be done," he said, adding that he won't seek the chairmanship again this year.

Carney defeated Virginia Roach in District 2. Carney received 535 votes, while Roach received 487. Chirichiello defeated Joseph DiChiaro by 33 votes, 314 to 281, in District 4. Rick Metts defeated former councilor Paul Hopfgarten for the councilor-at-large seat, 1,765 to 1,398.

On the school side, voters re-elected incumbents Brenda Willis, Kevin Gordon and Ken Linehan to the School Board. Linehan had been appointed to the board to replace Bud Hawkins, who resigned in the fall.

Willis received 2,018 votes, Gordon 1,689 votes and Linehan 1,679 votes. They defeated Frank Sapareto, who garnered 1,362 votes; Doug Newell, who received 1,257 votes; and Harry M. Moore Jr., who received 342 votes.

Voters also approved the $73.4 million school budget, 1,901 to 1,291; the teacher's contract, 1,951 to 1,323; and the $130,000 for roof repairs at East Derry Memorial Elementary School, 2,606 to 660.

A total of 3,308 of 19,000 registered voters came out for the election, a turnout of 17.4 percent. Last year's election drew 10 percent.

A vote of confidence for the Town Council

Town Councilor Kevin Coyle, who was chairman of the commission elected in the spring to change the town's form of government, chalked the near-miss up to people liking certain parts of the proposal and not others. The proposal had several parts | voting on the budget, big-ticket bonds and moving the town election date to May | but had to be voted on as a whole.

He also said the opposition by the teachers union to the proposal and an aggressive, well-funded campaign by Community for a Better Derry, a group formed in an effort to defeat the changes, led to the charter's failure. Last week, the Derry Education Association mailed a packet of information detailing its opposition to the charter change; it included a list of candidates endorsed by Community for a Better Derry.

"I think what it came down to was people were concerned about the budget part of it," Coyle said. "I think that the teachers union and the Community for a Better Derry, they spent a lot of money. We can't compete with that."

Opponents of the charter change said the defeat was a vote of confidence from the public that the Town Council is well-equipped to continue handling the budget and bonds, as it has been doing for the past 14 years.

"They put the trust in their representatives," Councilor Craig Bulkley said. "We are too big to try another method of government."

Neal Ochs, a member of Community for a Better Derry, said the group, "worked very, very hard to get the message out. This was not a simple issue. This was a big vote. This was about the work two groups did to try to get their vote across."

Most of those who turned out on Tuesday said they generally vote in every election. Those leaving the polls were divided in their opinion of the charter proposal.

Supporters wanted a say in how their money was spent.

"It's time the people of Derry took back their town," said George Chaloux, a truck driver who has lived in Derry for 10 years. "I think it's time the residents have a voice in where their money goes."

Opponents felt that the town was too big for a change in government, or that special interests would win out if the budget and bonds went to a vote.