It wasn’t until after 1:00 a.m. that Southbury’s municipal election results were shared with the Secretary of the State, as unofficial results came back in the favor of local Democrats.
Known for its Republican stronghold during local election seasons, the Town of Southbury has elected Democrat Tim O’Neil as First Selectman, unseating five-term Republican Jeff Manville in the rematch from 2023.
O’Neil captured 51.75 percent of the vote, compared to Manville’s 48.25 percent — a difference of 216 votes.
In 2023, O’Neil lost the race by a total of 579 votes.
According to the Town Charter, Manville has qualified for a seat on the Board of Selectmen. If he opts to exercise that option, it would seat him at the expense of the next highest vote receiver along the Republican line.
(UPDATE: Jeff Manville has told The Record that he will not claim a seat on the Board of Selectman, meaning Holly Sullivan can claim the seat.)
As of 2:00 a.m., there are no results available for any of the four ballot questions. The Town Clerk’s office says they will be reviewing the results of the ballot questions on Wednesday.
(UPDATE: Results of the four ballot questions have been updated at 10:00 a.m. and can be seen below)
In the ballot questions, voters narrowly decided to keep the First Selectman’s term at two years.
Meanwhile, voters overwhelmingly were in favor of combining the town’s two separate Planning and Zoning Commissions, despite a unified front from commissioners who stated that they were not in favor of the merger.
Voting went smoothly until around 4:45 p.m., when poll workers at the firehouse noticed a misprint of ballots; the back side of the ballot was not printed on a number of ballots. The mistake was noticed before any of the one-sided ballots were distributed.
An emergency plan was put into place, and leftover ballots from early voting were sent to the polling location, along with a secure black ballot box.
Although there were initial delays in reporting the voting numbers from two of the three voting locations, the results have been tallied. The following is what the Town Clerk has sent to the Secretary of the State as of Wednesday morning.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS as of November 5 at 2:00 a.m.
First Selectman
| Tim O’Neil (D) | 3,201 (51.75%) |
| Jeff Manville (R)* | 2,985 (48.25%) |
Board of Selectman
| Cathy De Carli (D) | 3,134 |
| Kelly Keenan (D) | 3,123 |
| Wendy Bernard (D) | 3,039 |
| Anne Armeno (R) | 2,833 |
| Jason Van Stone (R) | 2,924 |
| Holly Sullivan (R) | 2,889 |
UPDATE: Per the Town’s Charter, Jeff Manville has qualified for a seat on the Board of Selectmen, but has opted not to claim the seat.
Board of Finance
| Gerry Leventhal (D) | 3,032 |
| Michael Carrington (D) | 3,209 |
| John Kelly (R) | 3,103 |
| Brian Emerick (R) | 2,907 |
| Steven Giacomi (R) | 3,076 |
Board of Finance Alternate
| Vivian Templeton (D) | 3,216 |
| Casey Docherty (R) | 2,828 |
Board of Assessment Appeals
| Diane Barros (D) | 3,115 |
| Gabby Addison (R) | 2,921 |
Planning Commission
| Robyn Greenspan (D) | 3,308 |
| Nancy Clark (D) | 3,603 |
| Roberta Stewart (D) | 3,334 |
| Ronald Conti (R) | 3,067 |
Planning Commission Alternate
| Stephen Huntley (D) | 3,083 |
| Marietta Korsu (R) | 2,904 |
Zoning Commission
| Katrina Sweezea (D) | 3,323 |
| Andrew Sidhu (D) | 3,124 |
| David Dicks Jr. (R) | 2,980 |
| Frank DiPerna (R) | 3,080 |
Zoning Commission Alternate
| Dominick Fatibene (D) | 3,099 |
| David Henn (R) | 2,886 |
Zoning Board of Appeals
| Chris Smuden (D) | 3,008 |
| Lisa Antrum (D) | 3,124 |
| Jennifer Wysocki (D) | 3,366 |
| Gary Garofalo (R) | 2,918 |
| David Pittari (R) | 2,842 |
Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate
| Kat Smith (D) | 3,076 |
| John Allen, Jr (R) | 2,872 |
Inland Wetlands Commission
| Jason Hoyt (D) | 3,316 |
| Donna Lesch (D) | 3,501 |
| Thomas Weldon (D) | 3,401 |
| Daniel Slywka (R) | 2,956 |
Inland Wetlands Commission Alternate
| Matt Linnell (D) | 3,809 |
Town Clerk
| Alice A. Maisano (D) | 3,174 |
| Alice A. Maisano (R) | 2,870 |
Pomperaug Valley Water Authority
| Rich Boritz (D) | 3,815 |
Region 15 Board of Education
| Marion Manzo (R) | 3,773 |
| Heather White Rodgers (R) | 3,832 |
| Thomas Marks (R) | 3,669 |
Charter Question 1: “Shall Sections 202.A and 301 of the Charter be amended to provide that the First Selectman shall, beginning with the 2027 election, be elected for a term of four(4) years?”
| YES | 2,805 |
| NO | 2,850 |
Charter Question 2: “Shall Section 301 of the Charter be amended to remove the language that permitted an unsuccessful candidate for First Selectman to be considered for a position on the Board of Selectmen?”
| YES | 2,753 |
| NO | 2,813 |
Charter Question 3: “Shall Section 202 of the Charter be amended to combine the Planning and Zoning Commissions?”
| YES | 3,574 |
| NO | 1,976 |
Charter Question 4: “Shall the Charter be otherwise amended as recommended by the Charter Revision Commission as approved by the Board of Selectmen, as published and posted on the Southbury website?”
| YES | 4,319 |
| NO | 1,043 |
This was updated at 10:00 a.m. with unofficial results from the four ballot questions.
This was updated again at 3:00 p.m. with a corrected tally for the fourth ballot question. Originally, The Record was told the YES vote column totaled 4,328.
The Southbury Record 