Choices

Welcome back!

Sudbury had an election on Monday, but there was plenty more going on across Town all week. Yeah, yeah, elections matter and all that. But did you know a former Sudbury resident has a horse in the Kentucky Derby this year?

Here’s what we have for you:

1. SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup

2. CPC Prepares for Battle at Town Meeting

3. MCRT Paving Starts Next Week

4. Town Election Makes (Modern) History

Let’s get into it!

SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup

CPC Prepares for Battle at Town Meeting

By Kevin LaHaise

On Wednesday, April 2, Sudbury’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) voted to oppose a Citizen Petition on the warrant for Annual Town Meeting. The petition proposes to cut the Community Preservation Act (CPA) surcharge in half. (Page 100)

All the CPC members voted not to support the Citizen Petition except member Dan Carty, who abstained on the vote. Carty, who represents the Select Board on the CPC, abstained on the same vote in the Select Board meeting a day prior.

On Tuesday the Select Board voted to oppose the Citizen Petition as well, with two members sharply criticizing the petition. Member Lisa Kouchakdjian called it “a bad idea” and “shortsighted,” while member Janie Dretler called it “reckless” and “irresponsible.”

On Wednesday the CPC reviewed educational and promotional materials about the Community Preservation Act for an upcoming public hearing. That included an interactive map of CPC-funded projects in Sudbury. The committee also opted to have its chair, Sherrill Cline, present to Town Meeting in opposition to the petition in May. She recalled that this has been tried before in 2010, and it failed. (Cline was correct: Page 89)

While discussing the petition, CPC member Sam Markuse pointed out that over half of the residents who signed the petition to cut the surcharge live within walking distance of a CPA-funded project in Sudbury, or own property abutting land that was preserved using CPA funds. (42:45)

While the Select Board position on the petition came in this week, the Finance Committee has not yet taken a position. The CPC is hosting a public hearing on the Community Preservation Act Plan on April 16.

MCRT Paving Starts Next Week

By Kevin LaHaise

Make way for rail trails. In this case, the Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT). Sudbury Weekly previously reported that Eversource was expected to turn the corridor over to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) on April 1; and that happened this week according to comments during the Wednesday, April 2 meeting of the Sudbury Rail Trails Advisory Committee.

During the meeting, it was confirmed by Town staff that DCR and their contractor were on track to begin work next week.

The committee also discussed adding a paved pad at the intersection of the MCRT and the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail (BFRT) near Union Ave and Station Road. DCR was open to exploring the idea, which was encouraging news for the committee. The pad would provide a location for a thunder box portable toilet.

Continuing with the potty theme—the committee discussed pet waste challenges along rail trails. Co-chair Glenn Pransky relayed his experiences and conversation on other east-coast rail trails during a recent trip, and found that trail users consistently reported that pet waste disposal stations with pet waste bags were an effective solution.

The committee also discussed advancing conversations about trail maintenance on the BFRT, with Pransky relaying good news that trail maintenance is typically around $2,000 per mile per year according to a study. He did caution, however, that preventative maintenance was key to keeping maintenance costs low, as freeze/thaw conditions and tree roots can disturb the paved surface of trails, which is then more expensive to repair.

Paving on the MCRT is expected to be completed by June 30, but other work is expected to continue through the year. The committee discussed the risk of residents using the trail when it was not officially open. Definitely stay away from that freshly-paved trail that stretches across the town, and connects to stunning conservation land, until the grand opening. Wouldn’t want to be a trespasser, now, would you?

Town Election Makes (Modern) History

By Kevin LaHaise

The results of Sudbury’s Annual Town Election came in on Monday night. They were decisive, and they made some history.

Lisa Kouchakdjian was reelected to the Select Board with 66.6% of the vote—a dominant performance, and a significant gain on her last election, which was a 54.5% performance in 2022.

Kouchakdjian’s vote share on Monday is the strongest Sudbury Weekly could find in a contested Select Board race dating back to 2000, with one exception…

Radha Gargeya hauled in 69.6% of the vote on Monday—the strongest performance in a contested Select Board race since 2000.

For any historians out there who want to compare the results to the 1990’s - John Drobinski outperformed Gargeya and Kouchakdjian’s 2025 results back in 1999. That year he gobbled up 74.5% of the vote. Sudbury Weekly did a cursory review of the 1980’s election data and didn’t find any stronger performance in a contested race for Select Board than Drobinski in 1999.

Gargeya’s former colleague on the Lincoln-Sudbury (L-S) School Committee, Jack Ryan, was also on the ballot for the L-S School Committee on Monday. Ryan last ran for that office in 2007. He captured 63.5% of the Sudbury vote in that election. Nearly two decades later, he slightly improved upon his performance with 63.7% of the Sudbury vote. Sudbury Weekly was unable to find another example of a candidate returning to an elected position they previously held with a comparable delta between the two terms.

Turnout was interesting. 2,410 voters turned out this year. That’s down by roughly 1,000 voters from the last two years. However, a Sudbury Public Schools override was on the ballot in 2023, which likely drove turnout. In 2024, the State automatically sent registered voters an application for mail ballots, resulting in 3,628 Sudbury voters receiving a mail ballot, and 1,685 voting by mail in the 2024 Town Election. That certainly helped turnout in 2024. But 2025 was actually a bit stronger than typical turnout from 2019 to 2022, which hovered in the 2,200-2,350 range.

Precincts 1 and 2 had the strongest turnout (503 and 509 respectively), which is consistent with the general trend in recent years. Precincts 3 and 6 had the lowest turnout, with Precinct 3 dropping precipitously from 458 voters in 2024 to 284 in 2025.

For all that was new or precedent-setting this year, one thing held constant. Carol Bradford, who was reelected to the Board of Health on Monday, received the most votes of any candidate… something she has done in all but one of her runs since she was first elected in 2010.

Parting Thoughts

On Monday, several Sudbury candidates were not elected, but they were the choice of many voters across the community.

While thousands of residents have voted in Town elections, very few members of the community will ever know the feeling of winning or losing an election. In January, all the candidates pulled papers with no way of knowing which feeling they would experience on March 31.

They had the courage to step up anyway.

Local elections are win/lose endeavors… there’s no getting around that. But there’s more to an election than just that. When races are contested, the candidates give the community a choice.

They give everyone a choice.

What a profound and selfless gift to give to one’s community.

Onward!