When Needham residents head to the polls for the annual town election in less than seven weeks, they will be offered something they have not seen very often in the 2020s: choices. Of the 13 townwide offices on the ballot, seven will feature contested races.
In the four elections from 2021 through 2024, only seven townwide offices were contested and no election year had more than two competitive races.
In the April 8 election, candidates will compete for seats on the Select Board, School Committee and Planning Board, generally considered the town’s three key elected offices.
Voters will also have options for who will serve for the next three years on the Board of Health, Park & Recreation Commission, Needham Public Library Trustees and the Needham Housing Authority.
Five offices have incumbents who will not be facing any opposition. They are:
- Town Moderator Michael Fee
- Town Clerk Louise Miller
- John Bulian from the three-member Board of Assessors
- Two Trustees of Memorial Park, Matt Ching (veteran) and Mike Fraini (nonveteran).
Andrew Hopkin will be the only candidate on the ballot for an open seat for Commissioner of Trust Funds.
Prospective candidates had until Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. to return signatures to Town Hall. Town Clerk Louise Miller said the ballot will not be officially certified until March 4.
Candidates may opt to withdraw before then, but any prospective candidates who had pulled papers (that is, taken the forms on which to collect enough signatures for nomination) to run but not returned them by the deadline cannot be added, absent some error on the town’s part.
Here are the certified candidates in the seven contested races:
SELECT BOARD (one for a term of three years)
- Heidi Frail (incumbent)
- Vikram Kaul
SCHOOL COMMITTEE (three for a term of three years)
- Alisa Skatrud (incumbent)
- Andrea Longo Carter (incumbent)
- Constance Barr (incumbent)
- Scott Marder
- Leanne Ratti
- Sri Devi Baqri
- Kara-Anne Albert
PLANNING BOARD (one for a term of five years)
Open seat
- Eric Greenberg
- Kenneth Buckley
BOARD OF HEALTH (two for a term of three years)
- Tejal Gandhi (incumbent)
- Stephen Epstein (incumbent)
- Khristy Thompson
PARK & RECREATION COMMISSION (two for a term of three years)
- Cynthia Chaston (incumbent)
- Michelle Geddes (incumbent)
- Jit Basak
NEEDHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY TRUSTEES (two for a term of three years)
- Kathleen Cahill Allison (incumbent)
- Robert Petitt (incumbent)
- Megan Mistry
- Vipul Bhushan
NEEDHAM HOUSING AUTHORITY (one for a term of five years)
Open seat
- Geoffrey Engler
- Barbara McDonald
Save as PDF