SALEM — Incumbent selectmen Arthur Barnes and Elizabeth Roth fended off three challengers vying for the two open seats for selectman last night.
Roth got the highest number of votes, 1,858, with Barnes following with 1,594 ballots.
Incumbents largely held on to their seats in last night's elections, which included open seats on the Budget Committee, and the Planning and Zoning boards.
Roth heard the news as she stepped into the Knightly Meeting Room and people began congratulating her.
"There's a lot of work to do and we have some serious business ahead of us," she said.
Roth, re-elected to her second term, said her first order of business is to appear at the Local Government Center to lobby with other town officials for maintaining the town's portion of the rooms and meals tax and state aid.
Roth said she also was going home to e-mail state senators last night to appeal for their backing of Senate Bill 179, which would legalize expanded gambling at Rockingham Park.
She said in her next term she wants to focus on economic development and implementing the West Side Interceptor, a sewer expansion that would open commercial development to the western side of town. Roth said she hopes federal stimulus money could pay for the project.
Barnes said last night he would try to live up to the trust voters put in him.
"The humbling aspect of this is a lot of people were helping me out," he said of his re-election. "It's a great honor for me, but with it is a great responsibility."
Roland Theberge fell short by roughly 500 votes. He received 1,097 votes. Ronald Belanger received 983 votes and newcomer Paul Welch won 519 ballots.
On the Budget Committee, Ann Marie David kept her spot on the board with 1,564 votes. Russell Frydryck won a seat with 1,456 and James Ribaudo won with 1,446 votes.
Incumbents on the Zoning Board of Adjustments and the Planning Board held on to their positions.
Planning Board members Phyllis O'Grady and Eugene Bryant both kept their seats, defeating Edward DeClercq, who serves as an alternate to the board, and Jeffrey Gray. O'Grady received 1,483 votes, Bryant 1,247. Gray got 1,190 votes and DeClercq received 1,002.
The zoning board's sole incumbent, Jim Broadhurst was re-elected, receiving 1,421 votes. Gary Azarian, a member of the zoning board for nine years before it became an elected board last year, will join Broadhurst. Azarian received 1,421 votes; Broadhurst, 1,355; Jeffrey Gray, 1,068; and Robert Uttley, 981. This was the second consecutive year Gray unsuccessfully ran for both boards.
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