The recount of ballots this morning upheld the defeat of the $4 million land sale proposal — although there was a one-vote change, increasing the ‘no’ vote’s margin of victory from six to seven.
The count last Tuesday night was 961 ‘yes’ votes against 967 ‘no’ votes.
After this morning’s recount, the final tally is 961 ‘yes’ and 968 ‘no.’
“That was what we certainly expected,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said after the recount.
The Board of Selectmen is scheduled to meet in open session Tuesday at noon in town hall to discuss what to do on the former Schlumberger land.
“We’re just going to talk about going forward, what the board wants to do,” Mr. Marconi said.
The selectmen had worked months on the proposed sale of 10 acres, which they’d had rezoned for multifamily use last summer.
The proposal they finally put forward — after a bidding process late last year and then negotiations with several bidders — was to sell the property off Sunset Lane to Toll Brothers, a nationwide construction firm, which was committed by the contract to build 30 age-restricted condominiums there.
The recount, which started at 8:30 this morning, involved a team of 12 officials and workers assembled by the Registrars of Voters and Town clerk Barbara Serfilippi.
“It went very smoothly, a good job,” Ms. Serfilippi said.
There was a handful of observers not associated with the official recounting process looking on.