First Selectman Steve Vavrek calls his re-election win ‘a team effort,’ credits positive approach

Republican First Selectman Stephen J. Vavrek won a resounding victory Tuesday, defeating Democratic challenger Phyllis Kansky by 64% to 36%. The vote totals were 2,684-1,519.

“I’m humbled by this,” Vavrek said while celebrating with supporters at the Grill at Whitney Farms.

“It was a team effort,” Vavrek told his fellow Republicans. “I’ve told people from day one there’s nothing I can do without the team behind me, and without the support of the community.”

Vavrek, who was seeking a second term, said voters rewarded him and other GOP candidates for staying positive during the campaign. “People saw through some of the last-minute rhetoric,” he said. “We remained positive and on-message.”

He also was grateful to win the votes of many people not registered with either political party. “Thank you to the huge unaffiliated base,” Vavrek said.

Republicans won all competitive races, with Democrats picking up minority party-guaranteed seats on the Town Council and Planning and Zoning Commission. Other Democrats won in races in which all candidates on the ballot were guaranteed of victory.

Turnout was 33%, with 4,257 of 12,839 registered voters casting ballots. That compares to a turnout of almost 42% in 2009, when there was a close race for first selectman between Vavrek and the late Tom Buzi, the Democratic incumbent at the time.

Jeffrey Guttman, Monroe Republican Town Committee chairman, said the results showed that town residents “are happy with the type of person they know Steve Vavrek is. He’s moved this town forward during the past two years.” The goal now is to “keep the momentum going — to make the town even a better place for each and every Monroe resident,” he said.

Guttman serves on the Town Council, but was elected to the Board of Education in the Nov. 8 election. He was the top vote-getter among the four school board candidates.

Town Council

In the race for Town Council, all six Republicans and three Democrats won seats. The Republican winners were incumbent Deborah Heim (2,646), incumbent Enid Lipeles (2,645), Debra Dutches (2.631), incumbent Tony Unger (2,629), Frank Lieto (2,529) and incumbent J.P. Sredzinski (2.513).

The results mean the Republicans will continue to control the Town Council. Lipeles is current council chairman, but the chairman has traditionally been the top vote-getter in the election so it’s uncertain if she will retain that position when the new council is seated.

The winning Democrats were incumbent Dee Dee Martin (2,121), incumbent Michele Mount (1,899) and Raymond Knapp Jr. (1,845). Knapp is a former council member. The other three Democratic candidates were Patrick Carleton, Daniel Hunsberger and Nicholas Kapoor.

Planning and Zoning

In the race for Planning and Zoning Commission member, Republicans Karen K. Martin (2,475) and Richard Zini Jr. (2,335) and Democrat Brian Quinn (1,817) were the winners.

Two other Democrats, Robert Dombroski and Roger Agatson, were on the ballot. Zini is P&Z chairman and Agatson has been a P&Z alternate.

Other races

Town Clerk Marsha M. Beno, a Republican who was unopposed for re-election, won the most votes of anyone on the ballot with 3,321.

Tax Collector Emanuel Cambra Jr., also a Republican who had no opponent, captured 3,188 votes.

In the town treasurer’s race, Republican Ronald Bunovsky Jr. won re-election over Democrat Philip White by 2,329-1,667. White is a former Republican who once ran for first selectman as an independent.

Candidates for the Board of Finance, Board of Education, P&Z alternate and constable were all guaranteed of victory.

Republican incumbent Scott Ownes won the most votes for Board of Finance. Two other incumbents, Republican Mark Reed and Democrat Ted Quinlan, were re-elected. John Ostaszewski, a Democrat, ran unopposed to finish a two-term term on the board, created by a vacancy.

Re-elected to the Board of Education were three incumbents — GOP member Mark Hughes and Democrats Lee Reynolds Crouch and Alan Vaglivelo. Guttman won the fourth school board seat.

All three candidates for P&Z alternate were assured of victory, with Republican incumbent Jane Benedict Flader getting the most votes. Also elected were Republican Sean O’Rourke and Democrat Cathleen Lindstrom.

Constables Victor W. Yanosy, a Republican, and Pat Tomchik, a Democrat, were re-elected.

The Democrats

Michele Mount, a Democrat who won re-election to the Town Council, said it was hard for her party to overcome “the power of incumbency.” She said registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in town by about the same margin as Kansky lost to Vavrek.

Mount said the low voter turnout should be a cause for concern. “I think voters said more by staying home rather than coming out,” she said. “To me, this shows disinterest and that things have to change.”

However, she added that the recent snowstorm and power outages may have dampened voter enthusiasm because “the election wasn’t the most important thing on many people’s minds.”

Longtime Town Council member Dee Dee Martin, a Democrat, described her re-election win as “bittersweet” because the party did so poorly overall. “We had some excellent candidates who didn’t make it,” Martin said. “But we’ll soldier on.”

Martin said she isn’t sure why the Democrats didn’t do better. ”I truly don’t know because I felt so passionate about [Kansky] and the other candidates,” she said. “But it appears the electorate is satisfied, and the people have spoken.”

Two of the party’s younger candidates, Nicholas Kapoor and Patrick Carleton, said they planned to stay involved. Both ran unsuccessfully for Town Council.

“I learned a lot from the process,” said Kapoor, who is credited with devoting a lot of time to his campaign. “It’s a great process and I congratulate the winners. I feel we still need a lot of change in town, and I’ll be at meetings to serve as a public watchdog, advocating for a more efficient, leaner government.”

Carleton said Monroe is a Republican-leaning town, “and always has been. I do know we [the Democrats] all worked very hard as a team, and we’ll be back in a few years.”

Lee Reynolds Crouch, re-elected to the Board of Education, said she feels fortunate to be able to continue her role helping to guide the school system. “There’s so much work to be done — with a new superintendent and a new assistant superintendent, and we’ll have to continue to do more with less in terms of resources and dollars.”

The Republicans

Re-elected Town Council member Tony Unger said the voters were saying the Republicans were doing a good job in office. “I see it as re-affirmation,” he said of the election outcome.

Unger said his priorities in the new term would be to continue working on upgrading roads, prioritizing infrastructure needs, and finding ways to increase accountability at the municipal government level.

Frank Lieto, newly elected to the Town Council, said he was thrilled about his victory. “I hope to bring a new perspective to the council, having grown up in town and having a young family,” Lieto said. “I’m also a practicing attorney, and will bring that legal experience with me. I’m grateful to be able to serve the community that gave me so much when growing up.”

Vavrek said he will continue working with people from both political parties who are interested in improving the town. “I want to build people’s trust in local government — and think we’ve already created the foundation for that,” he said.

His second term will include more efforts to upgrade the municipal infrastructure, such as roads, buildings, equipment and vehicles, Vavrek said. He also hopes the Planning and Zoning Commission will complete a rewrite of its regulations as part of the effort to modernize the town’s land-use and planning functions.

“People saw that we’re striving for a little more,” Vavrek said.

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Enid Lipeles, re-elected to the Town Council, said people in town are pleased with the job being done by Vavrek and other elected Republicans. “They like what has happened with the roads and the low taxes,” she said.

One of her goals is to look into problems with how Connecticut Light & Power handled the recent snowstorm as well as the hurricane two months ago. “In the past [CL&P] would come trim your trees near power lines, but they don’t seem to do that anymore,” she said.

Lipeles said a CL&P representative should be asked to come to a Town Council meeting to explain what is being done to make sure future electric outages aren’t as severe. And if CL&P won’t do more tree trimming, she said, perhaps the town should look into the cost of doing some of the work itself.

Manny Cambra, who ran for another term as tax collector unopposed, said he is eager to continue serving people in town. “I plan to stay in office as long as they will have me,” he said with a smile.

Cambra said one reason for his success at the polls is the woman he married. “My biggest asset is my wife, Frannie,” he said.