Lewes returns Letonoff, elects Beaufait to City Council

City of Lewes voters returned incumbent City Councilman Victor Letonoff to office and elected Fred Beaufait to serve on the panel in May 14 balloting at City Hall.

In the Lewes Board of Public Works race, voters chose D. Preston Lee Jr., and Candace Vessella to serve as directors on the city’s utility panel.

Letonoff finished with 419 votes, and Beaufait with 362 votes, narrowly edging out Midge Smith who finished with 353 votes.

In the BPW race, Vessella was top vote getter finishing with 400, and Lee finished with 383 votes. Also-ran BPW candidates Jack Lesher had 295 votes and Joe Hoechner, 76 votes.

Letonoff attributed his win to pounding the pavement and Lewes voters’ sense of what they think the city should be.

“I walked a lot of streets in the city and one message kept bubbling up and that was livable Lewes. I’m going to work very hard to keep that message going and to keep that image in front of me. I thank the people for letting me do it again,” Letonoff said.

Beaufait said his goal during runup to election, was to deliver a consistent message.

“I tried to stay on point. I said that I didn’t have a personal agenda, and my promise to the people is to listen to what they have to say, learn of the their concerns, study the facts and make a decision,” Beaufait said.

Vessella is the first woman to be elected as a BPW director.

“I had an opportunity to meet a lot of wonderful people in the City of Lewes as I was walking around and trying to introduce myself to them. They took the time to look at my background and obviously felt that it was a good fit for the Board of Public Works,” Vessella said.

Lee said he thinks he won because of knowledge he brings to the panel.

“I guess my background in engineering, and having worked in the field, was probably the major thing. I have experience in this area and I’ve been active in the city, so I was somewhat of a known quantity,” Lee said.

Lee and Vessella will take office at the board’s meeting at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 25.

Beaufait and Letonoff will officially take office Monday, May 23, at City Hall, but a time has not been set.