EAST LONGMEADOW – It’s the beginning of a new era for East Longmeadow.

Residents agreed to adopt a council-manager form of government by a vote of 2,406 to 1,621 during the April 12 Town Election. The charter passed by a landslide – nearly 60 percent of townspeople voted in its favor.

The new form of government will replace the three-member Board of Selectmen with a seven-member at-large Town Council, which would function as the legislative branch. Town Meeting will be eliminated and the town manager would serve as the executive branch of the government.

Charter Commission Chair Dawn Wisnicki-Starks told Reminder Publications the next step  would be a June 7 Town Election to select members of the Town Council. Anyone interested in running for the council would be required to take out nomination papers.

She added councilors would be sworn-in on July 1. The top seven candidates would be elected to the council. The first order of business for the council, once elected, would be to name an interim town manager, who would be an existing municipal employee, and also decide on the search process for a permanent town manager.

“The [council] will be instrumental in setting the tone for the charter,” she explained.  

Wisnicki-Starks also expressed her satisfaction with the results.

“I’m very pleased that the citizens of East Longmeadow have decided it is time to change the way they do business,” she noted. “It is an historical day because we’ve had 120 years of conducting business in a certain way and we’ve changed it. I’m thrilled that we had great voter participation. Now is not the time to stop participating though. We need our citizens to step up.”

Former Selectman Susan Grimaldi, who organized the citizen pro-charter group Home Rule Charter, said she believes the new form of government would bring “total accountability.”

She added, “This charter is going to get it accomplished. We’re going to have seven councilmen who are going to serve the town to their utmost and they’re going to get the most qualified town manager that we could possibly get and really put East Longmeadow back on track.”

Town Clerk Thomas Florence said the voter turnout was 36.4 percent.

“Since I’ve been here, this has been the biggest voter turnout for a local election,” he added. “We had 4,048 registered voters come out and vote.”

Kevin Manley also defeated William Arment for a seat on the Board of Selectmen by a vote of 2,259 to 1,505, but due to the charter approval he would only remain on the board until the council takes over in July.

A preliminary election took place on March 15, which featured a six-candidate race for a sole seat on the board. Incumbent Selectman Angela Thorpe placed last in the preliminary election. Other candidates included former Selectman Joseph Townshend and newcomers Anthony Gentile and Bruce Ferney.

Manley said he’s happy with the results and the support he’s seen from residents.

“Again, it’s temporary,” he added. “I’ll just plan to run for Town Council. We’ll see how that goes and hopefully everything works out okay.”

According to the charter, the powers of the selectmen are limited under the provisional government. As of April 13, the board “shall neither create nor eliminate any position, neither hire nor terminate any employee or elected official, nor execute or extend any employment contract during the transition.”

Arment said he might consider running for Town Council as well.