PITTSTON — Voters removed a selectman from office in Wednesday’s election, while also filling a vacancy created by another selectman’s resignation.

Residents recalled Selectman Ted Sparrow Jr. by a tally of 290 votes for removal and 90 votes against, according to results released Wednesday night.

Voters also elected Jean Ambrose with 171 votes to replace Tim Marks, who had resigned in the wake of public backlash about the board’s decision to fire the longtime town clerk.

Daniel B. Myshrall Jr. and John S. Martin each received 71 votes, Stanley Byrne got 66 votes and Sparrow received one.

The town must hold another election to fill Sparrow’s seat.

“I think some of the emotion is ebbing, but it’s a sad thing when an official is recalled,” Selectwoman Jane Hubert said after the results were announced. “I think we need to move on from here and start making some constructive moves.”

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Residents submitted petitions with three times the signatures needed to trigger a recall election less than a week after the board’s March 6 decision to dismiss former Town Clerk Ann Chadwick.

Voters then ousted Chairwoman Wanda Burns-Macomber in the March 18 regularly scheduled municipal election. Marks resigned three days later.

Sparrow, the last to fall, hasn’t responded to multiple requests for comment.

“They done wrong, and they should be punished for it,” said resident Linda Marsh, 66, as she left the polls Wednesday.

Marsh said she thinks the firing and and ensuing aftermath woke people up to who is in charge of the town.

Ann Chadwick had held the clerk’s job for more than 20 years, but selectmen said she had failed to address concerns about poor job performance. The board chose to not reappoint her when she refused to retire after having agreeing earlier to do so.

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David Moulton, 65, said he thinks the board treated Chadwick a little harshly during the ordeal, although he admitted he might not know the whole story.

He said he’s not sure how long the discontent among residents will last.

“I imagine it will pass eventually. I don’t know how many people hold a grudge that long,” Moulton said after leaving the Town Office. “It is politics, so you never know.”

With the recall of Sparrow, Pittson is left with Hubert, who defeated Burns-Macomber by a landslide, and Ambrose on the board.

Town Clerk Rose Webster said officials hope to be able to vote on filling the empty seat at the June school election to avoid the cost of an additional election.

Webster, also the treasurer and tax collector, said earlier this week that Wednesday’s election could cost about $500 for ballots, clerks and supplies.

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The town also will have to pay for another special town meeting in late spring to revisit issues from March’s annual Town Meeting, which cost the town about $530, according to Webster.

The cost of the special election and additional meeting are a fraction of the $9,000 in legal fees the former board members racked up in February and March as a result of the personnel matter and recall effort.

The town is unable to pay the outstanding legal bill without voting to restore the funding because residents at the annual meeting rejected the $9,000 request for money to pay legal fees.

Hubert said the law firm Bernstein Shur agreed to lower the legal bill by 10 percent, but residents will have to approve funding the rest at the special town meeting.


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