LUDLOW — With most of the races going uncontested, the storyline for this election season was a pair of ballot questions.

The town election took place on March 27 with the unofficial results being posted on March 28.

Question one read, “Shall the town vote to have its Selectmen act as the Board of Public Works?”
The question passed by a vote of 913- 647 which means BPW would be taken over by the Board of Selectmen.

Before the election Town Administrator Marc Strange said with passage of the ballot measure, the DPW will be like the Police or Fire departments and fall under the oversight of the Board of Selectmen.

Strange added, “It is a bittersweet. The end of a long, adversarial, public disagreement over what is best for our Department of Public Works. We never doubted the BPW’s commitment to the town, but we need to do better by our DPW staff and managers and that’s exactly what we’re planning to do. We had a productive meeting with our DPW management team to discuss future plans and we all left the meeting feeling positive about what the future holds for the DPW and the town of Ludlow.”

The Board of Selectmen had expressed their concerns with the relationship between the DPW and BPW, which has caused multiple DPW members to leave, allegedly due to the working environment.

The latest news was on March 22 when DPW Director Lee Corbert was fired by the BPW in an executive session after less than three months of being hired.

Strange said they have posted the ad for a new DPW Director and hope to fill the position soon.

Question two dealt with the town approving to combine the elected treasurer and elected collector into one position and making it an appointed treasurer/collector.

The question also passed, 989-557.

Board of Selectmen Chair Tony Goncalves added that the current collector, Fred Pereira, is retiring after nearly 40 years at the position and combining the two positions can save the town approximately $150,000 each year.

Strange added, “We’re thankful that the voters saw the utility in making that position an appointed position and combining the two offices. Having a treasurer/collector department will allow the town to be more efficient and save taxpayer dollars.”

The Board of Selectmen have expressed that they would eventually like to see a new form of government that relies less on town meeting and these two changes start that trend.

The only race that had multiple candidates was the School Committee where Joao Dias and Jeffrey Laing received 868 and 830 votes to secure their seats.

Ed Deragon received 439 write-in votes after making a late push on social media.

Laing will be returning to the School Committee while School Committee Chair Chip Harrington announced before the election that he was not running again.

Harrington added, “I was honored to serve our community for the last 18 years as a member of the school committee. It can be very challenging at times but also rewarding. It’s always good to get some new people on the committee who can offer new perspectives and energy to the process. I wish you all good luck It was great to work with all of you.”

Board of Selectmen Chair Tony Goncalves, Town Clerk Kim Batista, Town Moderator Michael Szlosek, Board of Assessors Michael O’Rourke, Board of Health member Adrienne Santos, Hubbard Library Trustee Linda Collette and Planning Board member Joel Silva were reelected to their respective positions.
Jon Baldwin and John Archambeau to the Recreation Commission were two new members voted to the Housing Authority and Recreation Commission respectively.

For the full breakdown of the results, visit ludlow.ma.us under the Town Clerk tab.