Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Various campaign volunteers greet Ward 2 voters to the Charlotte Avenue Elementary School polls Tuesday. Roughly 950 voters had cast ballots as of mid-afternoon. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

NASHUA — The group of residents who launched a petition drive several months ago to allow voters to decide whether city officials — rather than the governor and Executive Council — should appoint members of the Police Commission fell well short in their bid by a 8,950-4,931 margin Tuesday.

The often contentious, hard-fought campaign by Nashuans on both sides of the issue began last summer, when Mayor Jim Donchess and several aldermen sponsored a resolution to remove the commissioners’ appointment process from the governor and Executive Council and put it under the jurisdiction of the mayor and Board of Aldermen.

The measure would become Question 2 on Tuesday’s ballot. Question 1, asking voters whether Nashua should allow the operation of sports book retail locations in the city, was approved, with 7,387 “yes” and 6,207 “no” votes.

In the aldermanic races, meanwhile, voters returned to the board Alderwoman-at-large Shoshanna Kelly, the lone incumbent running for reelection to one of the three open at-large seats.

Kelly, who garnered 6,121 votes, will be joined by Melbourne Moran Jr., the second-place finisher with 5,692 votes, and outgoing Board of Education member Gloria Timmons, who finished third with 5,584 votes.

Rounding out the at-large scorecard were Donald Whalen, with 4,842 votes; Paula Johnson, with 4,546 votes; Laura Colquhoun, 4,198 votes; and Kristin Wilson, 4,151 votes.

In a fairly rare occurrence, all nine city wards featured a contested race for alderman.

One of them — Ward 6 — initially had three candidates vying for the post until the incumbent, Elizabeth Lu, bowed out in September.

Of the two remaining candidates, Alexander R. Comeau edged out Jordan M. Thompson, 535 votes to 472. Lu, whose name remained on the ballot, received 83 votes.

In Ward 1, the city’s largest ward, challenger Tyler Gouveia emerged victorious, defeating incumbent Jan Schmidt by a slim, 1,136 – 1,087 vote margin.

Also by a slim margin, voters returned veteran incumbent Ward 2 alderman Richard Dowd to the board by a 786-647 count.

Former Ward 3 alderman Daniel Richardson fell short in his bid to return to the board, as voters, by a 934-756 margin, chose to retain incumbent Patricia Klee for another two-year term.

Incumbent Ward 4 alderman Tom Lopez held off a challenge from opponent Peter Lajoie by garnering 355 votes to Lajoie’s 239.

Ward 5 incumbent Ernest Jette defeated challenger Charles Lothrop, 1,015 votes to 793.

There was no incumbent in Ward 7, the result of longtime Alderwoman June Caron’s decision to not run again.

She will be succeeded by newcomer Johnathan Cathey, who topped Board of Education member Raymond Guarino in a 50-vote squeaker, 582-532.

A similar situation occurred in Ward 8, where incumbent alderman Skip Cleaver decided against running for another term.

Cleaver’s successor will be Derek Thibeault, who topped opponent Patrick “Chris” Parks by a margin of 805 votes to 663.

And in Ward 9, newcomer John Sullivan came out with a win over incumbent Linda Harriott-Gathright, garnering 996 votes to Gathright’s 755.

Over on the Board of Education section of the ballot, current board president Heather Raymond, the lone incumbent running against 10 challengers for one of the four open seats, will return to the board for another 4-year term.

Raymond collected 5,704 votes, coming in second to newcomer Neil Claffey, who topped the field of 11 with 6,454 votes.

Raymond and Claffey will join two other newcomers, third-place finisher Christina Darling (4,909 votes) and fourth place Regan Lamphier (4,871 votes).

Rounding out the field were Lynn L’Heureux, 4,555 votes; Allison Dyer, 4,392; Alicia Houston, 4,138; Kristie Hart, 3,964; Robert Johnson, 2,722; Rosmery Torres, 2,325; and Caitlyn Fahey-Pearl, 2,317.

There were two races within the Nashua Fire Commission: Two seats for a four-year term and one seat for a two-year term.

Former longtime Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja, with 6,464 votes, and John S. Steere, with 5,957, topped incumbent Anthony Patti III (4,520 votes) for the two four-year seats.

And incumbent Gary Lambert defeated challenger Sherry Dutzy, 7,037 to 5,079, for the two-year term.

In the four-way race for two open seats on the Board of Public Works, Great American Downtown executive director Paul Shea comfortably topped the field with 6,450 votes, while June Lemen, with 5,514 votes, edged out Laurie Ortolano (5,344 votes) and incumbent Tracy Pappas (5,153 votes) to secure the second open seat.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.