Sandy Cristo Takes Millbury Selectmen Seat

MILLBURY, Mass. - Sandy Cristo, a latecomer to the election campaign, became only the third woman elected to Board of Selectmen and the first since the 1970s. She used a grass roots campaign and a door-to-door approach as well as a telephone campaign at the last minute to turn the tide of the election.

Francis King lead all vote getters in the race for selectman, with Cristo taking the second and final seat with a close win over Frank Irr, who, like Cristo, was running for the first time.

Voter turnout was low with only 1,750 registered voters coming to the polls. In the other contested races, Planning Board member Paul Piktelis won his bid for re-election but fellow incumbent Gary Schold was narrowly defeated by Alan Linkevich. In the Board of Health, incumbent Armand White won a close victory over William Wilkinson.

Selectman King said, "I'd like to congratulate both Sandy and Frank who both made a great showing, I'd also like to thank the voters of Millbury who gave us another three years. It's going to be a lot of work but we're continuing to move forward."

King and his wife Gail had a full plate for the month of April. Besides campaigning, they also hosted their daughter's wedding two weeks ago.

The Cristo victory party was held at A&D Pizza Restaurant and the scene was pretty festive.  "Thanks to everyone who volunteered.. .We met a lot of great people and we're looking forward to serving the people with a new voice," she said.

The mood at the Irr household was a bit subdued but upbeat with a large crowd of supporters. Irr spoke about how proud he was of his supporters who came out for him. "First I'd like to congratulate the other two candidates on excellently run campaigns," he said. "We feel we came close, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes. We're not going anywhere and things will play out."

The final tallies for the election were as follows:
Board of Selectmen - (2 seats)
Francis B. King - 1163
Sandra Cristo - 920
Frank V. Irr -  776
Blanks - 606

Planning Board - (2 seats)
Paul Piktelis - 1032
Alan Linkevich - 814
Gary Schold - 762
Blanks - 863

Board of Health - (1 seat)
Armand O. White - 850
William Wilkinson - 780
Blanks - 105

School Committee - (2 seats)
Kevin Plante - 1201
William Borowski - 1105

Board of Assessors - (1 seat)
Joseph F. Coggans - 1153

Library Trustees (2 seats)
Carol F. Burke - 1219
Alfred M. Boden Jr. - 1077

Redevelopment Authority (1 seat)
Christine A. Vallery - 1189

Town Moderator- (1 seat)
Thomas J. Fox - 1421

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