HATFIELD — Voters on Tuesday will elect a new selectman to replace the outgoing Patrick J. Gaughan and will also decide whether to continue town hall renovations.
Polls will be open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. at the Memorial Town Hall, 59 Main St.
In the selectman’s race, Edmund E. Jaworski, 62, a recently retired commissioning engineer for the University of Massachusetts Amherst, faces Stanley J. Pitchko, 58, a deputy director for the Worcester Housing Authority.
Selectman Gaughan is resigning from the seat, effective Monday. Either Pitchko or Jaworski will fill the position on the three-member board for at least the remainder of Gaughan’s term, which ends in 2018.
Jaworski is the past president of the Hatfield Polish Club and former commander of the American Legion Post 344. Pitchko serves on the town Board of Assessors. Both have deep roots in Hatfield.
In December, both candidates told the Gazette they were happy to see that the Center School — long a topic of debate in town — had been saved from demolition and would be converted into senior condominiums.
At a candidate forum at Town Hall last week, both candidates said their management skills would bode well for the town.
“I do believe that the selectman’s responsibilities are sort of like some of the responsibilities I’ve had at work,” Jaworski said, in part. “And those responsibilities were state contracts, union, employee issues, structural, et cetera.”
“I oversee and lead facility managment and planning, which umbrellas the maintenance department and all capital planning with a team of over 100 people,” Pitchko said of his position at the Worcester Housing Authority.
Jaworski emphasized his support for the town’s seniors, while Pitchko said he would work to seek outside input when possible and protect Hatfield’s history and assets.
“I plan to provide leadership that will not be afraid to make a decision and act upon it in a timely manner,” Pitchko said.
In December, former Selectman Michael Cahill said both candidates would be good for the town and differenciated the two by their perceived management styles.
“I think Ed Jaworski is a little bit more laid back and tends to be a good listener from what I can tell,” he said. “And Stan Pitchko is, I think, more of an assertive personality.”
On the second issue voters will be asked to decide — a $325,000 debt exclusion override to pay for more work to the Town Hall — Jaworski said in December he would vote in favor of the proposal while Pitchko was noncommital.
The funds would be used to add a secondary external ramp into the basement of Town Hall, expand the Council on Aging kitchen, and relocate the Building Inspector and Board of Health offices to yet-to-be-determined office space.
The Council on Aging renovations are necessary in part because the town voted in November to add an elevator to town hall, thereby taking away some room from the kitchen, Pitchko told the Gazette in December.
“Whether I agree with them or don’t agree with them is neither here nor there,” Pitchko said. “Because the elevator got voted in, you need the debt exclusion to shift people around, like chess pieces.”
Jaworski said he was voting in favor to support the seniors in town.
“The population in town has some growing pains with the needs of our seniors,” he said.
Two votes are needed on the debt exclusion measures — one at a Town Meeting and the other at the ballot box.
The first phase of renovations has cleared both hurdles, while the second phase was approved at Town Meeting in October by two-thirds support. Tuesday’s election will determine whether the second phase of work can move forward.
Contact Jack Suntrup at jsuntrup@gazettenet.com.