BERLIN – With an overwhelming show of support at the polls, voters elected Councilman Zack Tyndall to replace incumbent Gee Williams as Berlin’s mayor.
Tyndall, who’s served on the town council for the past four years, earned 69% of the 1,226 votes cast for mayor in Tuesday’s municipal election. Council candidates elected Tuesday included Jack Orris in District 2, Shaneka Nichols in District 3 and Jay Knerr for the at-large position.
“I think that it’s going to be a good thing for the town,” Tyndall said late Tuesday night. “The people are ready to take a different step forward and I’m happy help them do that along with the three new councilmembers.”
Tyndall, 30, is a lifelong Berlin resident who defeated Orris to win a town council seat in 2016. Though he was unsuccessful in a 2018 bid to become a Worcester County Commissioner, Tyndall has been a vocal member of the town council the last two years. After announcing his intention to run for mayor in June, he campaigned for change and has shared his vision for a financially sustainable, well maintained community. Tyndall received 846 votes in Tuesday’s mayoral election while Williams, who was re-elected by a wide margin in 2016, received 184 votes. Other challengers in this year’s mayoral race included Bill Todd, who received 111 votes, Jennifer Allen, who received 49 votes, and Ron Bireley, who received 36 votes.
In District 2, Orris, who was the only candidate to file for election, will replace Tyndall on the council.
In District 3, Nichols received 199 votes while candidate Daniel Packey received 41 votes. Nichols will take the council seat long held by Elroy Brittingham, who retired after serving 32 years as an elected official.
“This is big,” Nichols said, “not only for me but for District 3 and the town of Berlin. I’m looking forward to jumping in and being a voice for the future of Berlin.”
A breakdown of the election results is shown, courtesy of the Town of Berlin.
In the race for the at-large seat, Knerr received 606 votes while Tony Weeg received 495 votes. While council terms are typically four years, Knerr will serve two years, to complete the remainder of the term Thom Gulyas was serving before he moved out of Berlin. Knerr, who felt confident going in to Tuesday’s election, is eager to serve.
“I’m extremely excited to be a part of the Berlin Town Council,” he said, adding that he was looking forward to effecting change.
On the Facebook page he created this summer for the Berlin community, Weeg issued a congratulations to all the winners last night. On Wednesday, Weeg followed up with his intentions to keep active in the community, posting, “Politically this is just a pause. The building of a coalition is what matters. Making some more change outside the chambers is what matters.”
Orris spent most of the day at the polls and was thrilled to see so many engaged residents come out to cast their ballots.
“I can’t thank District 2 enough for the continued support throughout my candidacy and record turnout on election day,” he said. “It was awesome seeing the community get involved in the process and I enjoyed spending the day talking to voters and hearing new thoughts and concerns. Now I’m excited to get to work. Congratulations to our new mayor and councilmembers and I look forward to working together to move Berlin forward.”
Tyndall, who also spent much of Tuesday at the town’s polling locations, said it seemed as if voters this year showed up to vote with their minds made up.
“Normally we hand out a little bit more material but this time people came with a clear decision,” he said. “Everybody appeared to have a clear vision in their head what they wanted.”
Tyndall said that while one never knew what to expect he was optimistic going in to the election.
“We had knocked on over 1,000 doors a couple times,” he said. “We hit them first with rack card just saying this is who we are, this is what we’re doing in case somebody didn’t know us, and then again with a reminder to get out and vote. Overwhelmingly we were hearing good things but you never knew how it was going to end up.”
Tyndall thanked voters for their support.
“I think it’s great when you have a small town and have people biking up to go vote, just a whole town coming together,” he said. “It was a lot of fun.”
For his part, Williams issued a statement Wednesday morning, saying, “I want everyone to know that serving as Berlin’s Mayor for the past 12 years has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. I trust that our town’s citizens will remain interested and involved in Berlin’s future. I wish everyone all the best.”
Town officials reported 1,236 total voters for Tuesday’s election, a voter turnout of 35.55%.
“It was a record turnout for all districts from what my records show,” said Mary Bohlen, deputy town administrator.
Town statistics show that 1,129 of the town’s 3,477 registered voters cast their ballots at the polls while 107 submitted absentee ballots. In District 1, 360 people voted at the polls and 36 submitted absentee ballots, a voter turnout of 40.08%. In District 2, 420 voted at the polls and 35 submitted absentee ballots, a turnout of 50.33%. In District 3, 228 voted at the polls and 17 via absentee ballot, a voter turnout of 28.32%. In District 4, 121 voted at the polls and 19 via absentee, a turnout of 19.44%.
