Races for Town Council, School Committee will be Crowded in Watertown

Watertown votes will have plenty of choices on the ballot for the fall town election, with the deadline for entering the race looming.

The race for at-large Town Councilors will be a crowded one with all four incumbents running for reelection and three challengers.

Incumbents Steve Corbett, Susan Falkoff, Tony Palomba and John Donohue will seek another two-year term. They will be challenged by Paul Fahey, Michael Dattoli and Aaron Dushku.

The District Councilors – Angeline Kounelis in A, Cecilia Lenk in B, Vincent Piccirilli in C and Kenneth Woodland in D - appear to be running unopposed.

Town Council President Mark Sideris may also face no opponent. Former Council President Clyde Younger took out papers, but has not returned them. He also took out papers two years ago, but decided not to run.

It appears the School Committee will have two new members as only School Committee Vice Chairman John Portz has taken out papers. He has returned them but they must still be certified before he can official be put on the ballot, said Town Clerk John Flynn.

Incumbents David Leon and Laurie McManus have not taken out papers, according to the Town Clerk’s office.

Three challengers will be on the ballot – Andrew Swan, Dmitry Lev and Guido Guidotti. Two others have taken out papers, but have not returned them – David Stokes and Liz Yusem.

Two Library Board of Trustees incumbents will be on the ballot – Raya Stern and Gracemarie LeBlanc. Three others have taken out papers, but have not turned them in.

The deadline to file papers is 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 25.

If a preliminary election is required, it will be held Sept. 17, but only when there are more than twice as many candidates as seats available will a preliminary election be held, according to the Town Charter. The Town Election will be on Nov. 5