Click here for the full list of election results provided by the Hull Town Clerk

By Christopher Haraden

Select board member Jerry Taverna was elected to a second term and Susan Short Green won the open seat on the board, according to official results from Monday’s annual town election.

Voters also elected challengers on the light board and planning board, choosing Mark Kohn over Pat Cannon on the municipal light board and Lisa French over Jeanne Paquin on the planning board.

A total of 2,146 voters cast ballots on Monday.

Green was the top vote-getter in the select board race, earning 1,036 votes, while Taverna was second with 977. Patricia Cormier finished with 876, Michael Sampson with 409, and Christopher Niland with 301.

“I’d like to thank Hull voters for their support. I’m humbled and honored to be representing the citizens of Hull for the next three years,” Green said. “I feel truly blessed to live in this beautiful town and I want to do my part to make it a better place to live, work and visit.”

“As my campaign slogan indicates, I stand for serving citizens first,” she added. “I feel strongly that as a board, we need to begin by acknowledging citizens’ concerns have merit. We need to move quickly to regain trust by improving transparency into decision-making and we need to show that we are here to represent by giving citizens the public information they need to influence decisions.”

Green also said she will advocate for more frequent meetings and more sharing of information.

“Detailed agendas posted, when possible, at least five days prior to meetings will give citizens the necessary information to assess their level of meeting participation and will give them time to review the materials,” she said. “I will advocate for meeting more frequently so residents have additional opportunities to communicate with the board.”

In a social media post, Taverna echoed the call for increased transparency in government.

“Hull citizens should expect to see major changes to the select board meetings after the board reorganization at our next meeting. Change can be difficult and upsetting for some, but the people have spoken very clearly and they want more open, honest, and transparent governance,” Taverna wrote. “That will be the focus point from which all decisions will be made with the public allowed to speak on all matters brought before the board. ‘For board discussion only’ will be a thing of the past. I am really looking forward to the future and improvements in many different areas of Hull’s governance, especially after the unnecessary difficulties of the past three years. We will continue to treat others with the same respect and dignity with which they treat us. We will press town officials to operate with complete transparency. We will start with a fresh, new, clean slate soon and allow for common-sense changes where needed.”

In the contest for the municipal light board, incumbent Jacob Vaillancourt topped the balloting with 1,255 votes, followed by Kohn with 1,232 and Cannon, a longtime member of the board, with 868.

Paquin, the chair of the planning board, lost to French, 950-942. On the redevelopment authority, C. Anne Murray was unopposed for an open five-year seat and appointee Charles Richardson fended off a write-in challenge from Susan Vermilya, 876-863, to be elected to the three-year term. An additional 100 write-in votes were cast for the five-year seat, which Murray easily won with 1,414 votes.

Assessor Pamela Sinton-Coffman was unopposed, and two positions on that board that had not attracted official candidates were won by write-ins Patricia Waddleton and Rochelle Terranova.

Incumbent school committee members Courtney Littlefield and Aleeza Hagerty were re-elected with 1,373 and 1,191 votes respectively, despite a challenge from former member Ernest Minelli, who finished with 752 votes.

Also unopposed were housing authority member Anne MacEachern and library trustee candidates Amy Hyde and Thu-Hang Vu Tran.

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