WILLIAMSBURG — Monday’s Town Election will feature two contested races, including one between incumbent Selectman David Mathers and challenger Patrick Sumner. The other contest is for moderator.
The election will take place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Town Offices.
Mathers is chairman of the Select Board, a lifelong resident, Vietnam veteran and retiree from National Grid.
Running for his fifth term in office, Mathers cited the Mountain Street project, the construction of the new public safety complex, and developments with the Mill River Greenway project as reasons he wants to continue to serve.
“I’ve got some unfinished business,” he said.
Mathers also said he believes the town is in good financial shape, with strong amounts of money in stabilization and free cash accounts.
“We still have a good bond rating,” he said.
He also said that he tries to keep taxes down, while acknowledging the need to fund departments.
Sumner has worked for several campaigns in the past, including for the Libertarian Party in Louisiana. He currently works as a tax preparer.
“I love this town,” Sumner said, on why he’s seeking a seat on the Select Board. “I want to protect it from the harm that budgetary issues can bring.”
He said Williamsburg is the place where he’s loved living the most in his life, and gave his political beliefs as a mixture of social liberalism, libertarian municipalism, and ethical socialism.
“If you give people the opportunity to be involved, to help, and to do good things, they will,” Sumner wrote in an email. “That belief in people continues to be proven true.”
Sumner said that he wants to see more fiscal responsibility in town “and a lot more forward planning.”
He cited two culvert collapses in town, the Mountain Street project, and the time taken to fix the HVAC system at the Anne T. Dunphy School, as indicative of the need for more planning in town.
“The town is incurring a large number of incidental expenses that should not be incidental,” he said, citing potholes and falling trees as examples.
If elected, he said he would seek to move the Select Board meetings, which are currently held on Thursday mornings, to times where more people can attend.
The other contested election on the ballot is for town moderator, where Karin McGowan and Kayla Solomon are competing for the open position. The town moderator is charged with moderating the annual Town Meeting and any other Town Meeting that is called.
Solomon said that she is concerned that not enough people are stepping forward to participate in town government, and she would like to see that changed.
“I am a complete believer in getting involved in the town that you live in,” she said. “This is how the town runs.”
While Solomon previously served on the Local School Committee, she said that commitment didn’t work with her schedule. And she said serving as moderator would work better for that.
Solomon is a therapist, whose work includes group and couples therapy. She sees being town moderator as a facilitating position.
“That’s what I do for a living,” Solomon said.
She went on to say that she sees the moderator position as being about allowing people to be heard and respected, while also moving Town Meeting forward.
McGowan said that she was approached by people in town about running because no one was running for town moderator at the time. She believes she was approached because in 2018 she moderated a debate between the candidates for the Democratic nomination for the 1st Franklin District in the state House of Representatives.
McGowan is a retired professor and microbiologist, and is former chair of the Town Democratic Committee. McGowan also described Solomon as a good friend.
“I think either one of us would be fine in the position,” she said.
Two three-year seats on the Local School Committee, a three-year seat on the Hampshire Regional School Committee and a one-year seat on the Hampshire Regional School Committee all have no one running for them on the ballot, although Glenda Cresto and Kathy Emerson are both running as write-in candidates for the Local School Committee. All other positions have people running for them on the ballot uncontested.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.