Handler, Howell win Select Board seats

HARWICH – One new face will join the Harwich Select Board.

Newcomer and vice chairman for the town’s Local Planning Committee Jeffrey F. Handler won one of the two Select Board seats in Tuesday’s town election, earning 1,376 votes, according to unofficial results.

Additionally, incumbent Donald F. Howell won another three-year term, winning by just three votes. He earned 1,013 votes, while former selectman Peter J. Piekarski came up short with 1,010 votes.

Wednesday morning, Town Clerk Emily Mitchell said she had not yet received any requests for a recount. The deadline is 10 days after the election, meaning next Friday, May 26.

Turnout was 17%, according to the town clerk’s office, with 1,959 of Harwich’s 11,507 registered voters casting a ballot.

Harwich voters also approved three ballot questions.

They passed a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion question asking if the town should approve funding to pay for the bond issued for the design, permitting and construction of a dry sewer pipe along Route 28, with 1,365 in support and 502 in opposition.

Voters also approved another question asking if the town should approve funding to pay $50 million to expand the wastewater collection system in East Harwich. For that question, 1,349 voters supported the question, while 509 voted in opposition.

On the $50 million expansion, a Harwich homeowner with a home valued at $788,000 would see an annual tax increase of $123 a year as a best-case scenario or $165 a year as worst, said town officials on Monday.

Voters also approved a 2022 town meeting vote to amend the town charter to change references of “Board of Selectmen” and “Chairman” to “Select Board” and “Chair,” to delete references to gender, with 1,395 voters approving the change and 512 opposing.