Bates wins Selectboard seat with write-in campaign in Orange

Michael Bates is sworn as an Orange Selectboard member by Town Clerk Nancy Blackmer on Tuesday morning. Bates defeated incumbent Patricia Lussier, 161 to 68, in a write-in campaign for a three-year seat. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

By DOMENIC POLI

Staff Writer

Published: 03-05-2025 1:05 PM

Modified: 03-05-2025 1:08 PM

ORANGE — The Selectboard will look slightly different at this week’s meeting, as a write-in candidate unseated the vice chair during Monday’s annual town election.

Michael Bates earned 161 votes compared to Patricia Lussier’s 68 votes, thwarting her reelection to the three-year seat. Two hundred and fifty-two voters cast their ballots, making for a 4% turnout.

“I’m feeling pretty excited — a little nervous, obviously, but it could be expected,” Bates said on Tuesday, after having been sworn in earlier that morning to what is his first position in town government. “I don’t really have an agenda, besides being a positive influence, honestly, on the future of Orange.”

Bates, 49, is a veterinary technician at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He and his wife, Fran, also own Over The Top Bakery and Bates Down Under and Flea Market at 90 New Athol Road.

“I love the town of Orange and I just want to give back to ... the people who have been so good to us,” he said. “I’m excited for the personal growth in all of this as well.”

Bates’ election comes during a time of contention for the Selectboard, as Lussier has walked out of meetings in protest twice in the past two years. In March 2023, she left a meeting after being denied the vice chair position and accusing her colleagues of colluding against her, and last month she left following a heated discussion regarding a report filed by the Lake Mattawa Docks Subcommittee.

There were no other surprises on the Orange ballot. The following candidates ran unopposed and won their races: Steven M. Garrity, moderator; Randy David Plante and Tim J. Sakach, constable; Patricia Doris Pierson, Board of Health; Mallory L. Ellis, Elementary School Committee; Peter M. Cross and Sharon Lynn Gilmore, three-year seats on the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School Committee; Crystal A. Clark, one-year seat on the Regional School Committee; Candace Lee Cross and Jessica Marie Morris, two-year positions as library trustees; Amy Dowdy Borezo, one-year position as a library trustee; Mercedes Lee Clingerman, water commissioner; Norman Sargent, cemetery commissioner; Paul Lyman, veteran member of the Trustees of Soldiers’ Memorials; and Michelle Lee LeBlanc, non-veteran member of the Trustees of Soldiers’ Memorials.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.

Article continues after...