Two-term Barre City Councilor Samn Stockwell lost her Ward 3 seat in a tight race against newcomer Don Routhier in the city’s Town Meeting Day election Tuesday.
Routhier won the race with a vote total of 124 to Stockwell’s 110 votes. Routhier, a local business owner, campaigned on a platform of cracking down on crime and supporting Barre’s North End, a neighborhood in Ward 3 that was hit hard in the 2023 flood.
“I’m very happy that Ward 3 gave me the chance to serve them,” Routhier said Wednesday. “I do believe this is the sign that people are starting to listen (to) all the problems that we’re facing in Barre.”
Meanwhile, in Ward I, the more tough-on-crime candidate Eddie Rousse lost the race to Beth Hilgartner, an author and former minister who emphasized the need for more consensus-based city processes. Hilgartner received 201 votes to Rousse’s 173 votes for the seat, which was left open by Emel Cambel’s departure from the City Council.
Hilgartner said via text message Wednesday that she was “grateful for the opportunity” to serve her city and neighbors.
Jeff Bergeron won an uncontested race for a City Council seat in Ward 2. Councilors Sonya Spaulding, Amanda Gustin and Michael Deering II, along with Mayor Thom Lauzon, are slated to serve their terms through 2026.
Barre voters also passed the $14.8 million budget in a year marked by ongoing flood-related fiscal challenges. Residents also voted in favor of a $600,000 ballot item for street and sidewalk improvements and the Capital Improvement Fund. They voted down a separate ballot item that would have made the city clerk into an appointed position rather than an elected role.
