LaChapelle wins historic Easthampton mayoral election

Nov. 9, 2021 | Chris Maza
cmaza@thereminder.com

Mayor Nicole LaChapelle won reelection in a landslide during the city’s Nov. 2 election.
Reminder Publishing file photo

EASTHAMPTON – Easthampton City Clerk Barbara LaBombard called the city’s first use of ranked choice voting in a mayoral election a success, reporting few issues on Election Day.

In 2019, voters approved the use of ranked choice voting in city election races with a single winner. In the case of the 2021 election, the mayor’s race was the only one that qualified as all the district city councilors ran unopposed. Other races used the traditional “plurality” voting system.

“I think it went well – as expected. If you saw it, it was a very simple ballot,” LaBombard said. “What we saw the machine spit back with incorrect markings wasn’t anything beyond what we expected – for instance some people only wanted to vote for one person and ranked them straight across. Voters overall didn’t seem to have a lot of trouble.”

The mayoral race required only one round to determine the winner with Mayor Nicole LaChapelle capturing 2,746 votes, or 65.7 percent, to earn another four-year term. Write-in candidate Donald Torrey garnered 770 votes while Eric Berzins, owner of Fort Hill Brewery and LaChapelle’s most visible opponent received 327 votes. Keith Routhier rounded out the field with 215 votes.

“The write-ins took a long time. We spent [Nov. 3] hand counting all of the write-ins – that took all day,” LaBombard said.

When asked if she was surprised at the level support for a write-in candidate for mayor, LaBombard said, “I think when you look at the ballot as a whole and who some of the candidates were, that tells the story of how a write-in candidate was able to perform better than some of the candidates on the ballot.”

All told, 34 percent of the city’s registered voters from all precincts casted their ballots at the single location at Easthampton High School, a number LaBombard called typical for this type of election. The 2019 election drew 35 percent of voters and the 2017 election, which included a contested mayoral race, had a 43 percent turnout.

“I always figure somewhere in the mid-30s is average for a city election,” she said. “It’s getting to be hard to make a prediction with early mail-in votes. I used to be able to take a mid-day count and double it, but with the early votes, it’s harder to determine.”

The City Clerk’s office distributed “a little over 600” mail-in ballots and received 564, according to LaBombard.

She added using a single voting location also appeared to work well, noting, “It was certainly easier for me and my staff and I think easier for voters. We’re going to have to take a look at voting locations in the future once the new school is built and figure out what we want to do.”

LaChapelle told Reminder Publishing the strong support she received reflected that citizens were pleased with he direction of the city.

“The feeling is we are in a good place. There is a good conversation going on – it’s not always nice, it’s not always graceful, but I look at the amount of people who came out today [in support] … I think it’s a commitment,” she said. “I think it’s telling me to go forward with the hard work. It’s telling me I got support from across the city from a lot of different communities [and] from a lot of different groups.”

She added, “It says we’re doing a good job on economic development, on schools and whatnot with recognition that there’s more to do … It’s not a mandate of perfection. It’s not a mandate that the mayor now can do whatever she wants to do. It’s a mandate of continuing the work.”

LaChapelle said “fearless listening” was the key to continuing her success on behalf of the city’s residents. With that said, she admitted she must continue to evolve as a leader in this area.

“My takeaway from the last four years is to listen more and to listen not only if a decision has been made but to listen as that decision evolves and we get close to the end of a particular project or whatnot,” she said, “There’s movement in government – in federal and state government – and we need to craft it to what we need in Easthampton and a couple of times I missed that mark.”

She also noted, “I think I have surprised a lot of people by listening to folks I don’t agree with. I think the next step is listening to people I don’t agree with and [learning] how to get them to a place not to my table but a place where they feel independently they can say what they need to and what they want to that’s important to the city.”

The mayor credited the city with remaining resilient throughout the coronavirus pandemic, adding, however, that she did not find it surprising.

“The resiliency we’re illustrating now with everything we’re facing, it’s built in historically and it comes up yet again from every part of Easthampton, whether you’ve been here six months or six years or six generations,” she said. “You really feel that in the culture of Easthampton and now you’re seeing a new take on that culture of resiliency. We’re sticking with what we know, which is good, basic business … We just doubled down on what we know we want ... and we don’t let go of that idea and make progress.”

The mayor pointed to five new women-owned businesses and the expansion of others on Cottage Street during the pandemic as evidence of not only the city’s strength but its commitment to core principles.

“I think there’s a commitment to local, but I think also the local merchants and entrepreneurs and innovators understand they need to pay attention to the core residents as well as visitors. Our future is not tourism; our future is a mix of different stuff,” she said.

While acknowledging the city’s general concerns such as maintaining services downtown, assisting senior citizens and supporting local schools, LaChapelle said there were specific projects she looked forward to completing in the short-term including Union Street – “the MassDOT is brutal to work with. They postponed the project; we’ve done everything we need to” – finishing the Mountain View School project on or under budget, maintaining the city’s strong bond rating and “bringing people to the table about the re-use of the schools and the need for housing.”

In the race for City Council At-Large, incumbents Owen Zaret (18 percent) and Lindsay Rothschild (16 percent) we reelected to two-year terms. Joining them on the council were newcomers Koni Denham (13 percent) and Brad Riley (11 percent). David Meunier (10 percent) and write-in candidate Kae Collins failed to capture enough votes in the race for four seats, two of which are being vacated by current council President Peg Conniff and Erica Flood who did not run for reelection.

Zaret, the leading vote-getter in the at-large race, said of his re-election, “It is an incredible honor to be elected to the Easthampton City Council for a third term. I am grateful for the vote of confidence from the residents of Easthampton. I have  returning colleagues and two exciting new ones, and I look forward to working together for all of the people in Easthampton.”

Rothschild, Denham, and Riley did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.

District Councilors JP Kwiecinski, Homar Gomez, Thomas Peake, Salem Derby and Daniel Rist all ran unopposed.

Incumbents Cynthia Kwiecinski, Laurie Garcia, Shannon Dunham, and Marin Goldstein joined Megan Harvey and Benjamin Hersey in capturing uncontested seats on the School Committee. Write-in candidate Dave Murrett received just 22 votes.

Staff Writer Nasya Blackshear contributed to this report.

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