HADLEY — Races for Select Board and town treasurer are the only contests on the ballot in Tuesday’s election.
The polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the cafeteria at Hopkins Academy, 131 Russell St.
Two incumbent Select Board members — chairman Guilford B. Mooring II, of 11 Morningstar Drive, and John C. Waskiewicz II, of 116 East St. — are challenged by former board member Donald J. Pipczynski of 234 River Drive for the two available seats.
And in the race for treasurer, incumbent Linda J. Sanderson of 388 River Drive is challenged by Kristen J. Parmenter of 257 River Drive, the assistant treasurer in Northampton.
Here is information about the three candidates for Select Board.
Mooring, who works as the superintendent of public works in Amherst, served as chairman of the select board during his first three-year term.
He said he’s proud of the work he and other board members have done on building and budget issues — the two areas he deems most pressing in town.
“We seem to making progress on both of them so I’m happy with that,” said Mooring, 51, adding that the municipal building committee the board appointed is making strides toward tackling the issues. “I just wanted to get in and help, try to make a difference in my community.”
Mooring said maintenance of aging municipal buildings was too long deferred and improperly funded, so it is now a serious budget concern.
“We definitely have to get a handle on the budget issue and I do think we’re coming to the point where there’s a decision about putting in more money or cutting services back,” he said. “And I don’t think that cutting services back is the right answer, so we’re going to have to figure out how to balance those needs.”
Mooring is a civil engineer and also has a master’s degree in public administration from Westfield State. He has worked in public works for 20 years and before that he served in the U.S. Navy for four years.
“I’d like to keep working for the town,” said Mooring. “I feel like I’m doing a good job and I’d like to serve another term.”
Mooring lives in North Hadley, has three daughters and is married to a local schoolteacher.
Waskiewicz, assistant chief operator at Hadley’s wastewater treatment plant, said he ran for his first term on the Select Board three years ago because he did not like the direction in which the town was heading.
“I ran because I was a little bit disturbed with what was going on,” said Waskiewicz, 53, adding that the town administrator appeared “overloaded” and so needed more help from municipal boards.
With Hadley being a farming town, Waskiewicz said taxes must remain low so residents can survive.
“We’re deteriorating the history of our town by raising taxes too much too fast,” he said. “We need to stabilize our spending. (Hadley is) quite diverse because we’re kind of stuck between Northampton and Amherst, so our little town has big-city problems, along with our infrastructure.”
Waskiewicz said he wants to hear from residents about what they think should be done about taxes and building issues.
“There’s roughly over $100 million worth of building we need to address, so if we could tackle one every 10 years I think we’d be making some progress,” he said. “But we really neglected our buildings over the past 25 years or so, so now we’re caught between a rock and a hard place, here, and have to make some decisions quickly.”
Waskieicz, who has been a town employee for 34 years, said his experience with infrastructure has been an asset.
“I hope to serve the people for another three years, if they let me,” he said. “I appreciate the past three years serving on the board.”
Waskiewicz helped raise his five stepchildren in Hadley and lives with his girlfriend of 12 years.
Pipczynski has been in and out of Hadley government throughout his 44-year tenure as a school bus driver.
“Ever since I was a young boy I wanted to run for municipal government,” said Pipczynski, 66.
Pipczynski served two terms on the Select Board during the 1980s and before that served on the Finance Committee.
Though he has not held elective office in more than 20 years, he said he has maintained involvement in the town by fundraising for the schools his children attended, serving on the Hampshire Council of Governments and the Hopkins Academy Renovation Committee.
Now that he’s cut back his work to part-time and his children are grown, Pipczynski said he’s had time to think and is once again ready for elected office.
“I’ve been away for about 26 years but they awoke a sleeping giant,” he said.
Pipczynski said the town budget is “way out of whack.” He said, if elected, he would work to ensure the stabilization fund remains untouched for operating funds.
He said town officials have depleted enterprise funds and are talking about taking money from the stabilization fund, and he is concerned that will affect the town’s bond rating.
“If you don’t have those extra moneys, the bond rating will go down and we will have to spend a lot of money to borrow,” Pipczynski said. “We certainly don’t want that with all the things coming forward.”
He said he would like to work on better planning, adding that talk of tearing down the Hooker building not long after spending money on fixing its roof shows the need for stronger planning.
“I have an awful lot of ideas, I’m a team player and I have the uncanny ability to get things done,” he said.
Pipczynski, a six-year U.S. Army veteran, has two grown children and lives with his wife of 36 years.
Sanderson, an estate attorney who owns Dwyer & Sanderson with husband William Dwyer, has built a career around financial planning. She served for nine years on the town’s finance committee during the 1980s.
Sanderson, 62, has served a partial term and now is running for her first full term as treasurer. She said her background in estate planning has proved useful as treasurer.
“I’ve worked closely with (the town administrator) because of my background in planning and employee benefits,” Sanderson said.
She said that with all of the building projects on the horizon, debt planning will be an important part of Hadley’s future.
“Getting it laid out over the next few decades is an important part of getting these projects accomplished,” she said.
Sanderson, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a law degree from Boston College, has lived in Hadley for 35 years. She and Dwyer raised three children in Hadley.
Parmenter thought her future was in nursing until her job at Interskate 91 as a teenager appealed to her money-management talents, she said.
And so she switched course at Greenfield Community College, taking on more and more business classes until she knew for sure money management and accounting was her niche.
Parmenter, 31, has worked for the city of Northampton for five years — first in accounts payable and, for the past two years, as assistant treasurer. Before that, she said she worked at Florence Savings Bank for five years.
“I would love to take my dedication to the town where I live in a way that benefits me and my family,” sand Parmenter.
Parmenter lives on River Drive with her fiance and their 7-year-old son.
Also on the ballot running uncontested are: moderator, Brian C. West, 203 Bay Road; assessor, Richard S. Grader, 139 Bay Road; Board of Health, Gregory M. Mish, 33 Middle St.; and Planning Board, Michael P. Sarsynski Jr., 10 Laurel Drive.
Also, School Committee, Heather S. Klesch, 3 Bargate Lane; elector under Oliver Smith Will, Sheila M. Konieczny, 16 Shattuck Road; Park Commission, Diane M. Kieras-Ciolkos, 1 Rocky Hill Road; library trustee (three years), David S. Moskin, 83 Rocky Hill Road; library trustee (three years), Caryn L. Perley, 31 Hockanum Road; library trustee (one year), Alan M. Weinberg, 108 Bay Road; and town clerk, Jessica V. Spanknebel, 52 Bay Road.
Also, Housing Authority, Terry A. Yusko, 233 River Drive; constable, William R. Banack, 23 Moody Bridge Road; constable, Richard R. Downie, 55 Bay Road; and Board of Councilors, Michael P. Sarsynski Jr, 10 Laurel Drive.
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.