Raymond voters remove Select Board chair in recall election

By Ed Pierce

Results from the Dec. 30 recall election in Raymond have been made official and finalized by Raymond Town Clerk Melanie Fernald.

During the Town of Raymond's recall election om Dec.
30, Select Board chair Denis Morse, left, was voted out
of office while Select Board vice chair Kaela Gonzalez
retained her seat. A special election will soon be
scheduled to fill the Select Board vacancy. 
FILE PHOTOS 

Question A on the ballot asked voters if Raymond Select Board Vice Chair Kaela Gonzalez should be removed from office. Unofficial results show 276 voters cast ballots saying no, while 265 voter ballots were marked as yes.

Question B asked voters if Raymond Select Board Chair Denis Morse should be removed from office. Unofficial results show 282 voters cast ballots marked as yes, while 260 ballots were cast as no votes.

Gonzalez, a former town employee who was elected in 2024, will retain her seat on the Raymond Select Board.

Morse, a retired town fire chief who was elected to the Raymond Select Board in 2023, was removed from his seat on the Select Board and declined to challenge the official result by asking for a recount.

To fill the Select Board vacancy created by the recall of Morse, a special election will be held in Raymond to elect a candidate for that position.

Dec. 30’s recall election was initiated by former Raymond Select Board member Teresa Sadak in December.

In her petition, Sadak listed four reasons for a recall of Morse and Gonzalez including failing to put Raymond’s interests first, creating division, micromanaging, and denigrating employees during public meetings.

At a public hearing during a Raymond Select Board meeting in December, Sadak detailed actions she said supported her claims, many tied to the board’s treatment of former Town Manager Joseph Crocker.

Prior to submitting his resignation in October and Crocker had served as Raymond’s Director of Parks and Recreation before becoming interim town manager succeeding Sue Look in March and he then was chosen by the Raymond Select Board as the permanent town manager in May.

In an email, Fernald said it’s possible that Morse could run again for the Select Board seat.

“I don't see anything in State statute or local ordinances that would preclude Denis from running again,” Fernald said.

According to Fernald, the Special Election date has not been finalized yet. She said an election will be scheduled 30 to 45 days after the Select Board certifies the results of the recall election.

“The ordinance doesn't require the Select Board to approve that date for the special election, just that the Clerk ‘prepare and call the election,” Fernald said.

Given the very tight turnaround time prescribed by the ordinance, compared to usual procedures, interested candidates in running for the Select Board vacancy would have a shortened time to collect signatures on nomination papers containing more than 25 verified signatures from Raymond voters and the window for absentee voting will have to be shortened as well, she said.

“The exact timing and details are still being coordinated at this time,” Fernald said.

The term for the Select Board position vacated by Morse’s recall runs through June 2027, so the time that the elected candidate would be required to serve would be about 17 months.

Raymond Select Board members exercise the town's executive and administrative powers, overseeing town functions through the appointed town manager, hiring town officials, managing highways, setting town fees, administering public health regulations, dealing with tax abatement appeals, implementing policy and serving town residents' needs. Select Board members are elected on a non-partisan basis and serve three year-terms in office.

Town bylaws specify that the Select Board shall deal with administrative services solely through the town manager and shall not give orders to any subordinates of the manager, either publicly or privately. This does not prevent the Select Board members from appointing committees or commissions of its own members or of citizens to conduct investigations into the conduct of any official or department, or any matter relating to the welfare of the town. <