MONSON — Monson’s annual town election took place on June 13, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Memorial Hall on 198 Main St. This election had four contested races and an override ballot question for the Fire Department Renovation. Mary Watson who has served as Town Clerk since 2014 won in this year’s election, making this her fourth term.

“In my nine years as Town Clerk, this was the highest turnout,” Watson said. “It was 21% of our voters cast their ballots including the day of election, vote-by-mail ballots and early ballots. Overall, it was an excellent turnout for the election.”

Three contestants ran for one open seat on the Select Board for a term of three years. Mary Hull was up for reelection along with new candidates Anthony Allard and Peter Warren — as the votes tabulated, Warren prevailed.

The School Committee had one position open for a term of three years, with new candidates Karen Nothe-Valley and Kourtney Senquiz running in this contested race. There was also a write-in campaign for Gennie Bailey for School Committee, however she came in second. In the end, Karen Nothe-Valley was elected to the School Committee.

Dorthy Jenkins was elected Board of Assessors. Watson told Reminder Publishing this was a close race as Ron Avery was the candidate for reelection. This will be Jenkins’s first term.

Marshall L. Harris was reelected for water and sewer commissioner. Christine Evans was reelected for Housing Authority, Richard Smith was reelected for Cemetery Commissioner and Jennaann Cherie Berry was reelected for Parks & Recreation Commissioner.

Of interest was the Fire Station Building question, which asks voters whether to approve a Proposition 2 ½, debt exclusion for the cost of $6.6 million for a renovation project for the Fire Department. The debt exclusion was approved at Town Meeting on May 8, and it was passed at the election.

Fire Chief Brian Harris stated, “The department is very happy that the dept exclusion passed and the project is being funded. This is a big step for both our department and the town as a whole.” He continued, “The project has been being worked on since October of 2019 as an assessment to see what the fire station needed to be repaired and make it usable for today’s use and future needs. When the department was built, we were a 100% volunteer fire department. Today, we have 10 full time employees and 20 on-call employees.”

The station, built in 1978, has extensive damage due to water infiltration and was deemed not adequate to support the needs of the staff that work 24 hours shifts, seven days a week. The project once completed will address several priorities established by the building committee and the department members. Some of the most notable are decontamination, living quarters, showers and bay congestion/quantity to name a few. The station estimates that when completed, this renovation will serve the fire department for at least 30-35 years or longer depending on the needs of the town.

“Our goal was to provide more accessible ways for people to vote by offering vote by mail and having early voting for five days prior to the election,” Watson replied. “Monson has 6,386 voters. With the 21% turnout for a town election, it’s a big turnout.”

The official results are posted on the town website at www.monson-ma.gov and are printed and available in the office and on the town of Monson Facebook Page.