Holden Town Council gets 2 new members

HOLDEN – Two new members will join the Town Council after Tuesday’s election.

John Bryant and Paul Amoroso will replace Chairman Joel Dearborn and Mike Lagasse on the Holden Town Council, starting in July.

Incumbent Sylvia Ellis also earned enough votes to retain her SAD 63 board seat in a close battle with Malcoln Coulter Jr., who has been filling the seat left vacant last year by Peter Dawes.

Ellis earned 524 votes compared to Coulter’s 492 votes.

Bryant received 335 votes to earn his council seat, and Amoroso obtained 247 votes. All three positions are for three-year terms.

A SAD 63 reapportionment committee formed a month ago, after a Clifton resident re-quested the breakdown of representation on the school board be looked at.

The committee decided, and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron agreed to reduce the SAD 63 board from 13 members to eight and, in doing so, changed the number of board members for Holden from seven to four.

Four of the original seven seats were on the ballot for Tuesday’s election, but only the person with the most votes from Holden will be appointed to the smaller board, Ellen Campbell, reapportionment committee chairman, said Tuesday.

The town’s annual town meeting is 7 p.m. tonight at Holden School, 590 Main Road.