Bethel elects Kraus to Selectboard

BETHEL — Voters here approved the town budget and all other spending articles and elected a new member of the Selectboard in Australian balloting on Tuesday.

Those votes bring total spending for the next fiscal year to a little more than $2.5 million, a figure that includes $75,000 toward a renovation and expansion of the town highway garage that town officials are planning. The town budget won approval by a vote of 278-59.

Gene Kraus won election to the Selectboard by a vote of 206-142 over Wayne Townsend. Both men are members of the town’s Planning Commission. Kraus will replace Moe Brigham, who opted not to run for another term. Christopher Jarvis was re-elected without opposition.

Without candidates for some offices, voters wrote in their fellow residents, which made counting the votes challenging, Town Clerk Pam Brown said Wednesday. A write-in must receive 30 votes or 1% of the checklist to be seated. One person reached that threshold for a three-year term on the board of listers, but declined as she’d been elected to a two-year term. Paul Vallee received 30 votes as a write-in and was elected trustee of public funds. All results remain unofficial, Brown said.