Benson, Wetherbee win Derry Council seats Smith, Grabowski elected to school board

This story appeared in the derry News on March 11,2008 and was written by Eric Parry

DERRY — The Town Council will have a new look, as Brad Benson and Neil Wetherbee won seats by a narrow margin on Tuesday.

Benson received 1,135 votes for the at large council seat, beating out Tom Cardon with 974 votes and Drew Hill with 257 votes. Benson replaces Councilor Craig Bulkley, who was not seeking re-election.

Wetherbee won the District 3 council seat with 343 votes beating out Doug Newell's 313 votes and Nick Arancio's 41 votes. Wetherbee succeeds Bev Ferrante, who also chose not to seek re-election. Ferrante had endorsed Wetherbee for the position.

Wetherbee, who has been an alternate on the Conservation Commission, said he will be stepping down from that seat but hopes to become the council's liaison to that board.

"I don't know how Brent Carney would feel about that, but it would be my first choice," said Wetherbee. Carney currently serves as the council's board liaison.

Wetherbee also promised to regularly meet with District 3 residents to get input on town issues — like the proposed Exit 4A that was not supported by the majority of voters at the polls — before making a vote on the council,

"I'm serious that I want to hear from the voters because a good section of that (Exit 4A) project goes through District 3," Wetherbee said.

In the race for two vacant seats on the school board, Mark Grabowski and Wendy Smith both beat Frank Sapareto by more than 150 votes. Grabowski and Smith replace Matt Hanna and Grace Reisdorf, who opted not to seek re-election.

The $77 million budget, a three-year collective bargaining agreement with education assistants, and the plan to construct two new kindergarten classrooms at the Grinnell Elementary School all passed.

But the most interesting race of the evening was for the trustees of the Taylor Library. Carla Carney won one of the seats outright but Edward Ciancio edged out James Reimer for the other seat by only one vote.

According to Town Moderator Margaret Ives, Reimer's last day to ask for a recount of the results will be March 14. Reimer said earlier this week he has no intention of asking for one.

Other winners of the night were Paul Loffler, Brendan Walsh and Marilyn Sullivan for trustee of the Derry Public Library. Loffler and Sullivan are incumbents, while Walsh is a newcomer to the board. Incumbent T.J Paton was fourth and was knocked off the board.

Running unopposed were Trustee of the Trust Fund Mario Iannaccone, Town Moderator Margaret Ives and Supervisor of the Checklist Peter Correia.

New School Board members Smith and Grabowski have said they will work to give Derry students a quality education but one that is affordable to taxpayers.

As two new members of the school board, both have said they are happy with previous boards but feel they can bring fresh ideas that will help improve the town's seven schools.

"I want to continue the great work the members of the board have achieved this far," Smith said.

Doug Newell, who lost to Wetherbee for the third district seat, said he was just happy that all of the candidates stayed positive.

"It's unfortunate the turnout wasn't higher but municipal elections don't get people excited," Newell said of the 2,521 people who turned out to vote, which represents about 13 percent of the town's registered voters.

Last year's election turned out a slightly higher number of voters, at about 17 percent.

Derry voter Erik Ferrell said he's lived in town for 12 years but has tried to become more politically active over the last couple years and felt a responsibility to cast his vote.

Getting his vote this year was a "No" on the nonbinding Exit 4A question and at large candidate Drew Hill.

Even though winners Benson and Hill were both political newcomers, Ferrell said he wanted a completely fresh face to lead the town.

As for Exit 4A, Ferrell and his wife, Erica, said they'd rather wait in traffic for a couple of minutes than have the town build the off-ramp.

Daniel Buck, however, said he was sick of the traffic along Route 102 and voted in support of the project.

But the real issue that brought Buck out to vote was the $77 million Derry Cooperative School budget.

Buck said he supported the budget because he's worried that his eighth-grade son at Gilbert H. Hood Middle School with special needs will be sent to another district for high school rather than attend Pinkerton Academy.

"I just don't want to see him go to another school," said Buck after voting at the West Running Brook Middle School.