Baker wins Selectboard seat in Leyden

JEFFREY BAKER

JEFFREY BAKER

Staff Report

Published: 06-06-2024 12:36 PM

LEYDEN — Jeffrey Baker has been chosen to succeed Glenn Caffery on the Selectboard, and the lifelong Leyden resident sees this as a chance to give back to the community.

Baker, 61, ran as the only Selectboard candidate on the ballot in Tuesday’s town election, though three people — Elizabeth Kuzdeba, Pam Brown and Caffery — received a total of four write-in votes. Baker received 97 votes.

Of the town’s 604 registered voters, 110 went to the polls, an 18.21% turnout.

Prior to the election, Baker said he wants to help facilitate conversations with the schools that the town is involved with. Baker also wants to keep Leyden’s taxes down and make sure the town stays on top of its expenses.

“I look forward to meeting with representatives and senators of the state of Massachusetts and other selectboards and people in our local community, meaning Franklin County. I care a lot about the community,” he said previously. “I do feel like I’m quick to listen, slow to speak and very slow to get angry. [It] creates good conversation. I care, I communicate and I budget.”

The results of the other uncontested races on the ballot are as follows:

■Board of Assessors, three-year term — Kenneth Spatcher, 95 votes.

■Board of Health, three-year term —Marcia Miller, 102 votes.

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■Constable, three-year term — Philip Juliani, 101 votes.

■Library trustee, three-year term — Vanessa Russell, 102 votes.

■Library trustee, one-year term — Patricia Little, 104 votes.

■Moderator, one-year term — John Golden, 96 votes.

■Planning Board, five-year term — David Curtis, 97 votes.

■Planning Board, three-year term — Elizabeth Kidder, 94 votes.

■Tree warden, one-year term — William Brooks, 108 votes.