In the week after a town election that saw two incumbent selectmen ousted, Oak Bluffs residents were still buzzing about the new face of town leadership and the current of discontent that swept Duncan Ross and Ron DiOrio out of office.

Last Thursday 1,163 voters, some 35 per cent of the electorate, turned out to vote in the annual town election. Lookout Tavern and Seasons Pub managing partner Mike Santoro led all candidates with 704 votes. Retired Merrill Lynch vice president Walter Vail followed with 652 votes, while two-term incumbents Mr. Ross and Mr. DiOrio trailed far behind, Mr. Ross receiving 385 votes to Mr. DiOrio’s 264.

Along Circuit avenue and in Post Office Square voters explained their choices this week, some bluntly registering their discontent with the operation of town government in recent years, with others bidding a fond farewell to the two departing public servants.

Like many voters, landscaper Derek Cruz was eager for change.

“I’ve known Mike a long time but he really is a new voice and he knows what’s going on with business here and he owns a couple of businesses himself,” he said. “I think that — and I think and Brenda, my wife, feels the same way — that in-town business is an important voice in the town.”

Still, Mr. Cruz was not unkind in his appraisal of the outgoing selectmen.

“I think the town has been run pretty well, the town, the roads, everything looks good. I think the taxes are a little high,” he said. “I think everyone feels that way.”

Other voters were not as generous. “Lousy” is how George Tucker described the management of the town of late.

“In every which way,” he said. “I think there’s an awful lot of crookedness going on in town really.”

Dr. John B. Thomas, on the other hand, did not assign corruption to town government but was frustrated by what he saw as its sluggish operation.

“The delay in getting the tax bills out was outrageous,” he said. “Now we have to pay a double whammy by May 2. That doesn’t bother me but it bothers a lot of people.”

The challengers, if nothing else, represented a new approach.

“I thought at least they’d bring a refreshing change,” Dr. Thomas said. “I like Santoro, he seems like a pretty level-headed, decent guy.”

Post Office Square fixture Hamburger Faust saw other forces at work in the election.

“I think a lot of people were surprised at the outcome of the election, but the powers that be — there’s a few people that run this town and when they get together and stick out their antennas and say look this guy’s got to go, they sway the vote,” he said. “Ron DiOrio did a good job but they don’t like the job he did. He brought a lot of benefits to the town but there’s something about him, maybe it’s his swagger, his demeanor they didn’t like.”

Other voters had similar praise for the two-term selectman.

“I voted for Ron DiOrio last Thursday because I really appreciated his courage with the Bradley Square project,” said Gretchen Underwood. “I know Ron and how hard he worked on that project and I just thought it was rather courageous.”

John Pagoda was somewhat less sentimental.

“I want a clean slate,” he said. “I want everyone fired.”

Mr. Pagoda was critical of the town’s handling of the Oyster Bar and Grill’s licensing issues. The restaurant served alcohol year-round with a seasonal license and has held several events without an entertainment license.

“How can you ask for an entertainment license when you don’t even have a liquor license to begin with?” he asked. “That’s just ineptness on the part of all in charge, especially the town administrator. The selectmen should call up [Massachusetts Alcohol Beverages Control Commission] in advance before they put that on the agenda. It was just chaotic.”

One former selectman, shop owner Todd Rebello, could empathize with the difficulties of the job.

“I’ve been there so it’s easy to point fingers and blame selectmen for all our financial hardships but you’ve got to be realistic,” he said. “You look around the country it’s every town, every city, every state you see similar things.”

Still, he said, the selectmen should not escape all blame for the town’s recent woes.

“I would say there were some little things that I think people were looking at,” he said. “If you look at the override that’s coming up, why wasn’t that part of our general election like it is every year? It’s being held in a separate election at a cost to the taxpayers of probably $2,500. That money could be the difference of someone holding onto a position in town. I’m not sure what the circumstances were but it tells me there may not have been proper planning. When you don’t have proper planning for the small things they cumulatively add up. It doesn’t mean that they aren’t individually great people.”

He added: “It’s either bad planning or it’s political, they wanted a low turnout so that only the supporters of those overrides will show up.”

Longtime Oak Bluffs resident Richard Coutinho objected to the conversion of the old library to a mixed commercial-residential property, one of the signature achievements of the outgoing selectmen. Mr. Coutinho owns a house across the street from the development.

“I don’t think a town should be able to take tax money and then go into competition with people,” he said. “There they are renting it out to a pharmacy, and maybe we need a pharmacy in Oak Bluffs, but how about the other half dozen people up the street that have rental property that they pay the town taxes on and they can’t rent it because this one tenant is down there renting from the town at a low cost? How can the taxpayer compete with the town?” he added.

“I’m looking forward to the change,” said voter Gail Croft. “It felt like the good old boy network to me that was in there and I’m looking forward to fresh new voices who will perhaps relieve the taxpayers of Oak Bluffs from worrying about how well their tax money is being spent.”

Like the residents on Circuit avenue and Post Office Square this week, Mr. Rebello heard a similar thread in his discussions with townspeople leading up to the election.

“It was obvious talking to people that there was an air of change that was going to take place,” he said. “But I don’t think anybody thought it would be as lopsided as it was.”