William Ellis walked away with the 1st Assistant Engineer's job in Tuesday's Onset Fire District election, racking up 42% of the total votes cast in a four-way race for the No. 2 slot in the department.

A total of 506 district voters cast ballots. Ellis received 210, Jeffrey Dias 129, Michael Hodge 99, and Robert Maxim 61. Write-in votes and/or blanks made up the remaining seven.

"I'm a happy man," Ellis said. The former 2nd assistant engineer attributed his win to "previous experience, hard work, knocking and talking to people." And he thanked all those who supported him.

It was the only contested race in the election, but hotly contested. Long-time 1st Assistant Engineer Gene Crocker is retiring, which left the field wide open.

Ellis first joined the Fire Department in the late 1970s. He served as Second Assistant Engineer until losing a bid for re-election in 2003.

He defeated Dias, an Onset firefighter since 1998; Hodge, a recently retired Bourne firefighter with 36 years of experience there; and Maxim, a member of the District's Prudential Committee.

Retaining their positions in uncontested races were Marcine Fernandes, Prudential Committee, and Brian O'Hearne, Water Commissioner. Linwood Gay did not run for re-election to the moderator's post but, with no one else on the ballot, won it anyway with 79 write-in votes.