WILLIAMSBURG — Longtime Select Board member Denise Banister is up for re-election this year, and on Monday, she will face a challenge from political newcomer Robert Parker.
Banister, 66, who has been on the Select Board for 15 years, is also an assessor and serves as the town’s emergency management director.
A native of Williamasburg, Banister has been employed at M.J. Moran in Haydenville for 20 years, where she works in the accounts payable department.
“I am very involved with the Public Safety Complex Committee, that is one of the towns biggest challenges at the moment,” Banister said.
The town has been working on plans to build a safety complex to replace the fire stations and police station, all of which are in serious states of disrepair.
“Of course, that is side by side with looking at building use in town, as well as trying to keep the tax rate down,” she said, noting that it is always a complicated juggling act to balance municipal upkeep and necessary improvements while keeping taxes in check.
Banister said that she has enjoyed her time on the board and that she is “passionate about service to the town.”
“I appreciate all of the wonderful support that I have received over the years and I hope to get continued support from people as we move forward,” Banister said.
Parker, 40, of 11 Lawton Hill Road, was recently laid off from his job at CRD Metalworks in Leeds. He has yet to hold a position in town government. In 2015, he ran against Bill Sayer and Richard Kisloski to replace Selectman Paul Dunphy, who was retiring from the Select Board.
Sayer easily won that race with 273 votes, while Parker garnered 51 votes and Kisloski 33.
Parker says that he is running for a seat on the Select Board because he believes that taxes are “absolutely, positively out of control,” and he thinks Williamsburg should do more to bring businesses into town.
He also said that he thinks town decisions could be made more efficiently, if the local government cut back on forming committees and commissioning studies to investigate projects and town planning, relying instead on town officials and department heads whose job it is to have that expertise.
“There are probably 50 committees in town! I think that is just a way for the Select Board to pass the buck and not take responsibility for decisions that are made,” he said. “Why spend money on other people telling us what we need when we have people in town who already have that information?”
Parker said that he was nominated at the town caucus to run against Banister.
“I really wasn’t going to run, but when I was nominated I thought I would step up and do it,” he said.
The only other race on the on the ballot this year is between Gail Paddock, of 5 Myrtle St., and Amber Smith Harder, of 20 Village Hill Road, both of whom are seeking a two-year term on the Local School Committee.
The election will be held Monday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the town offices at 141 Main St. in Haydenville.