Waterbury voters turn out strong for local elections
March 4, 2026 | By Sarah Andrews | Correspondent Holding handmade campaign signs, candidate Don Schneider (right) and supporters wave to passersby near the roundabout on Monday. Photo by Gordon Miller
In an election with turnout comparable to a presidential primary, Waterbury voters on Tuesday elected three new members to the Waterbury Select Board.
According to election results reported by Assistant Town Clerk Carol Dawes, 1,531 of Waterbury’s 4,578 registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s election. That works out to a turnout of 33.4%. The competitive local election and Randall Meadow bond vote question were of high interest this year.
Source: Town of Waterbury Election Data. Chart by Julia Bailey-Wells
By comparison, last year’s town meeting election drew 25% participation and just under 15% voted in March 2023. The presidential primary in March 2024 had a 25% turnout. (see graph above)
Five candidates competed for the select board openings as three incumbents stepped down from their positions. In the race for the board’s open three-year term, write-in candidate Don Schneider received an overwhelming majority of the votes, totalling 851. Chris Viens, whose name was on the ballot for that race, received 589 votes.
Candidate Chris Viens and supporter Elizabeth Brown outside Brookside Primary School on Town Meeting Day. Photo by Gordon Miller
Both candidates previously served on the select board and sought to return as incumbents announced plans to step off the board this year. Board Chair Alyssa Johnson held the three-year term that just ended and decided not to run for re-election. Likewise, members Mike Bard and Tori Taravella, both in one-year terms, chose not to run again.
Schneider said he was glad to have the town’s vote and grateful to get to see friends and neighbors at Tuesday’s town meeting. “I’ve had so much fun today, meeting so many community members that I haven't seen in a while,” Schnieder said Tuesday evening. “I'm appreciative of all the folks who supported me.”
Viens said he was disappointed, but not surprised by the results. “Thats the way elections go, and I’ll still continue to go to the meetings,” Viens said. “I did what I could. I pounded doors, and I tried to get the word out, but [Schneider] just had a better platform.”
In the three-way race for the board’s two one-year seats, voters elected Martha Staskus and Sandy Sabin. Staskus won 907 votes, and Sabin received 731. Evan Karl Hoffman came up just short with 605 votes.
Staskus said she is eager to take on her new role on the select board, even though it means that she will likely step down from the Planning Commission that she chairs. “I just want to do a good job for the town. I now have a time that I can help, so I’ll help,” Staskus said. “I guess the voters have some faith in me.”
Sabin said she was surprised by the vote after an unsuccessful write-in campaign for the select board last year. She said she is eager to get started. “Hopefully, everybody will be happy with what I can do for them, and I'll be glad to start. It'll be fun,” Sabin said. “It will be different, being on that side of the table.”
Hoffman, who also made a bid for a one-year seat on the board in 2025, said he was disappointed, but he plans to remain involved in town government. He said he would “probably be interested” in applying for Kane Sweeney’s upcoming vacancy on the board and will watch to see what happens with the town clerk position.
Sweeney’s seat was not up for election on Tuesday, but he announced in January that he would step down following town meeting due to a new job he has taken with the labor union that now represents Waterbury municipal employees. That arrangement was likely to pose conflicts of interest that would impact his ability to give the board position his full commitment, Sweeney explained.
Sweeney held a three-year seat and was elected in 2025. Two years remain on that term. The select board will now ask for applicants for that position to appoint someone to serve until the next local election in March 2027.
Filling the remaining board opening will be a topic at a special select board meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday. The board will reorganize, which involves choosing a chair and vice chair for the next year. The only returning member of the board is Roger Clapp, who is starting the third year of his term that ends in March 2027.
A top priority ahead for the board will be to recruit and hire a new municipal manager. Former manager Tom Leitz resigned recently and Public Works Director Bill Woodruff is now serving as interim manager for the town and the Edward Farrar Utility District.
Leitz’s departure was one of multiple staff resignations in the past several months that also included the town clerk and library director. Combined with the select board turnover, leadership in town government is undergoing a significant transition. The newly elected board members all say they are eager to bring stability and transparency back to Waterbury.
On election night, Waterbury election workers had the careful task of reading hundreds of ballots with write-in votes. Click to enlarge the images.
Town Clerk and Treasurer
The offices of Town Clerk and Town Treasurer were both on the ballot with no announced candidates. Each was for the remaining year of the unexpired terms previously held by Karen Petrovic, who stepped down from those roles on Jan. 2.
Since then, former Assistant Clerk Beth Jones was appointed as Town Clerk to serve until a permanent replacement was either elected or appointed. Likewise, former Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk was tapped to serve as interim town treasurer until a permanent replacement is elected or appointed.
Tuesday’s election results show that Petrovic was the top write-in choice of voters for both offices. She won 254 votes for clerk and 87 for treasurer.
The election tally shows 46 other write-in votes for clerk and 63 for treasurer with the bulk of the ballots left blank on those spots (1,235 and 1,385, respectively).
Under state law, a winning candidate for local office – either on the ballot or a write-in – has 30 days to take their oath of office. Petrovic, who has taken a new job with the state of Vermont since leaving the clerk position in January, said on Wednesday that she did not have any comments to share about the election result yet.
Ahead of Town Meeting Day, Petrovic said she was aware of the community support for her as a write-in choice, but she said she was not a candidate. According to state law, a candidate who wins an office as a write-in is not obligated to take the position.
The gym at Brookside Primary School is election central on Town Meeting night as election officials from Waterbury (foreground) carefully count write-in votes and Harwood officials tally school budget ballots at the tabulators (back). Photo by Gordon Miller
Other offices on the ballot
Besides the select board races, the other contest on the ballot was between two write-in candidates for one year of an unexpired term on the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board.
Theo Hanna won that race with 217 votes; Michael Frank had 47 votes. Another 27 votes were cast for other candidates, and 1,244 ballots were left blank, according to the final election results.
Reached on Wednesday, Hanna, who entered the race about a week before the election, thanked the voters who wrote her name on the ballot. “I’m grateful for the support and honored to be elected. I look forward to representing my fellow Waterbury residents on the board,” she said.
A second Waterbury seat on the Harwood School Board was on the ballot, with Pamela Eaton the sole candidate. She received 1,132 votes. There were 29 write-in votes for other candidates and 379 blanks, according to the official election results.
Eaton has served on the school board since April 2025 when she was appointed. This was her first election. Waterbury has four seats on the Harwood board. The other members, Corey Hackett and Rob Dabrowski, were not up for election this year.
The remainder of the offices on the ballot were not contested. Other results from Tuesday’s election were:
Incumbent John Hamilton Woodruff IV won 1,295 votes for a five-year term on the Cemetery Commission. There were 2 write-in votes and 238 blanks.
Anna A. Black won 1,255 votes for a five-year term on the Library Commission. There were 5 write-in votes and 274 blank ballots.
Current Town Clerk Beth Jones was a favorite write-in for a three-year term on the Board of Listers. No candidate filed to be on the ballot for that position. Jones received 57 votes. There were 20 other write-in votes and 1,458 blanks.
A steady stream of Waterbury residents cast ballots on Tuesday, including during the annual town meeting in the gym at Brookside Primary School. Photo by Gordon Miller
The Waterbury Select Board will hold a special organizational meeting at 6 p.m. tonight (March 5) to seat its new members, choose officers and discuss the process for filling the vacant position now that Kane Sweeney stepped down as planned on Tuesday. Interim Treasurer Bill Shepeluk also will give a budget update. The meeting is in person and online via Zoom. Link in the agenda here.
Waterbury Roundabout editor Lisa Scagliotti contributed to this report.