WEST STOCKBRIDGE — Town Finance Committee member Andy Krouss soundly defeated former selectman Peter Skorput in yesterday’s special election to fill the seat of a selectman who had resigned earlier this year.
Town administrator Marie Ryan told The Edge that Krouss defeated Skorput by a margin of 204–150. A total of 354 votes were cast out of the 1,157 registered voters in the town, for a turnout of slightly more than 30 percent.
The special election to fill a vacant seat was necessitated by the abrupt resignation of Roger Kavanagh, who in March told a stunned board that he would step down as of May 9, the day of the town elections. Kavanagh’s resignation letter cited inefficiencies in town government and divisions in the town, but his announcement occurred too late to place his open seat on the May 9 ballot, so this week’s special election became necessary.
Krouss will not be the only Andy on the three-person selectboard. He joins Andy Potter and Kathleen Keresey. In the May town elections, Potter upset incumbent board chair Eric Shimelonis 251–153. The board’s terms are staggered, so Keresey’s term is not up until next spring.
Last year was a tumultuous one for the town. The selectboard was confronted with a downtown crisis when Truc Nguyen, who owns Truc Orient Express, fought aggressively against The Foundry, a performance venue next door, arguing that noise from its outdoor weekend performances — largely necessitated by COVID-related restrictions — harmed Truc’s business, which has been downtown since the 1970s.
The matter was resolved when a deal was worked out between the two parties, but the episode exposed deep divisions within the town, with allegations of conflicts of interest among public officials and negligence because the town was evidently unaware that The Foundry required a special permit when it opened in 2019.
More divisions were also exposed when Shimelonis, a relative newcomer to town, successfully moved to fire Skorput, then the town’s fire chief, who was fined $5,000 for multiple violations by the state Ethics Commission. The chief’s ouster prompted a backlash from his supporters, some of whom had harsh words for the selectboard and Shimelonis personally.
Skorput’s bid to regain his selectboard seat ended in failure last night. The selectboard meets next on Monday, June 6, at 6 p.m. On the agenda is a discussion and vote on a special town meeting for June 27 “to address year end budget items.”
