EAST LONGMEADOW – Incumbent Selectman Angela Thorpe will not move on to the April 12 Town Election, after receiving the lowest number of votes during the March 15 preliminary election.

The top two candidates who will face off for one seat on the Board of Selectmen are newcomers Kevin Manley, who gained 882 votes, and William Arment, who received 801 votes. Thorpe was granted 220 votes.

A total of six candidates ran in the preliminary election. Other candidates included former Selectman Joseph Townshend, who received 222 votes, and newcomers Bruce Fenney with 689 votes, as well as Anthony Gentile, who gained 434 votes.

Town Clerk Thomas Florence said he was a little disappointed with the voter turnout, which amounted to 16.9 percent –  about 1,850 voters.

“It’s a little less than I thought,” he added. “I thought it might be a little closer to 20 [percent], but two weeks ago we were at a 41 percent turnout [during the presidential primary], about 4,500 voters, so I thought a couple more people would come out.”

Florence said he anticipates a bigger turnout for the April 12 Town Election due to the selectmen race and the proposed town charter being on the ballot, which calls to replace the existing form of government with a council-manager system.

“There’s four weeks in between elections,” he noted. “I’m sure the candidates – William Arment and Kevin Manley – will be doing some heavier campaigning.”

Manley told Reminder Publications he believes there needs to be “significant changes in which business is done here in town.”

He added, “I would like to see the Ethics Commission come in and see a full investigation into all the allegations were made, and I’m not saying that any of those allegations are true, but we need an independent party to look into those things and to beat out whether they are true or not true. If they are true, we have to make some serious moves right away.”

The allegations that Manley referred to were made by Selectman Paul Federici on March 9. Federici contacted the Attorney General about an alleged bribe from former Springfield City Council President and now political consultant Frank Keough, who offered Federici a finance position in town hall in exchange for voting in favor of certain police chief and permanent town administrator candidates.  

Manley said he “fully supports” Police Chief Douglas Mellis remaining in the position.

“The board did a disservice to him and the citizens of this town in the underhanded way that moving him out of office was done,” he added. “He served this community well. There’s never been an issues with his service.”

He said a section of Mellis’ contract, which grants him a year’s salary if just cause or a year’s notice are not given, undermines the “fiscal responsibility that [the board] claims.”

Manley, who worked in the corrections field for more than 20 years, said he considers the way Mellis has been treated to be “despicable,” adding, “he’s owed more than just an apology.”

He added he believes the search process was also rushed, noting, “It’s like no other government process I’ve seen in my life.”

Manley said he’s on the fence about voting for or against the town charter.

“I like the Town Meeting,” he explained. “I think that’s a valuable asset for the townspeople, but [not] the charter with the expanded board, but I think what we need to do is look at some change. I don’t know if the charter is the exact 100 percent right answer, but I think it’s an improvement over what we have.”

The biggest issue that Manley would push for as selectmen would be government transparency, he noted.

“I don’t think a lot of that transparency has occurred,” Manley said. “It was a lot of lip service to get votes.”

Gentile said he was disappointed with the results, but decided to endorse Manley following his defeat in the preliminary election.  

“Kevin and I have spoken a lot and we pretty much have the same ideas and I think he would be the best chosen for the path for East Longmeadow now,” he added.  

Arment and Thorpe did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.