CUMMINGTON – In the only contest on the town’s May 10 election ballot, four people will face off for three seats on the Cummington Recreation and Pettingill Memorial Field Committee.
Incumbents Laurie Freitag, Donna Forgea, and Amy Grallert are all running for re-election, and Joshua Wachtel is also looking for a seat on committee. Peg Cowen was nominated to run for the committee at this year’s Town Caucus, but ultimately decided against doing so.
The election will take place from 1 to 8 p.m. at the Community House.
Wachtel is a father of two and musician who works in communications. He also serves as the town moderator and chairs the town’s Education Committee.
“I really think we have a great resource in Pettingill Park,” Wachtel said.
He said that with Cummington no longer having a school, it’s really important that kids have more activities.
“I think there’s a lot of creativity and a lot of talented people in Cummington,” who could contribute to activities, he said.
Some of the fun stuff for families he said could be brought to the park are potlucks during the week and baseball clinics.
“I just feel like I can bring some energy to the committee,” he said.
Freitag has served on the committee since 2015.
“I enjoy doing things for our future leaders, our future generation,” said Freitag, who also expressed a desire to have more events for kids.
Freitag, who works as an apartment manager, grew up in Cummington and moved back to town in 2013.
“I enjoy everything about it,” she said. “I enjoy the people, I enjoy the community.”
Forgea, a retired treasurer/collector for Lanesborough, is in her second stint on the committee, which she estimates has been for at least 10 years.
“I think that I have given a lot of free time to the Recreation Committee and I wanted to keep doing it,” she said.
Forgea said that she returned to the committee to get it active again, and she spoke fondly of Santa Claus coming to the gazebo and the town’s Halloween party, two events the committee puts on.
Another reason why she said she’s involved is because of the maintenance of the park, and Forgea noted that she’s cleaned bathrooms and emptied trash cans as a member of the committee, as well as supervised cleaning.
“I understand the things that need to be done,” she said.
Grallert, who moved to Cummington in 2001, said that she was first elected to the committee in 2002.
“It’s a fun group to work with,” she said.
Grallert said that she would like the committee to continue working with the Cummington Family Center. She also said she’s looking to bring music to the gazebo in the summers.
“I think that’d be fun,” she said.
Grallert works as a preschool teacher at Central Berkshire Regional School District
The positions that are up for election on May 10 but don’t have races are: one seat on the Select Board, one seat on the Board of Assessors, town moderator, a seat on the Vocational School Committee, an almoner of charitable funds, a commissioner of trust funds, a seat on the board of trustees for the Bryant Library, two seats on the Finance Committee, a seat on the Board of Health, two seats on the Planning Board, two positions on the Municipal Light Plant and a water commissioner position.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.