CHESTERFIELD – With the resignation of longtime Select Board member Robert Recos, two candidates are on the ballot to replace him in the May 4 election.
Ed Severance and Don Willard are both running for the seat that Recos has held for the last 16 years. The winner of the election will fulfill the remaining year left on the three-year term seat.
Severance, 60, is the chairman of the Board of Assessors and has served on that board for 24 years. He has also served on the Chesterfield Parade Committee for the past 15 years.
He is currently the head estimator for Taylor Davis Landscape Construction in Amherst.
Severance ran for a seat on the Select Board in 2014 when David Kielson retired after having been a selectman for 24 years.
During an interview last week, Severance said he actually ended up supporting one of his opponents who had declared her candidacy after him, as he thought it was important to have a woman on the Select Board. That candidate, Patricia Colson-Montgomery, was elected in 2014.
Severance said he is “big on transparency” and that he would like to see the town upload the Select Board meetings for residents to view. He also said that building a public safety complex, and municipal vulnerability preparedness are important issues for Chesterfield.
He says his experience in town government and his ability to foster good relationships with residents makes him a good candidate for the Select Board.
Willard, 47 currently serves on the Recreation Commission, the Cemetery Commission and the School Committee.
He is the former owner of Willard Concrete and retired after selling the business in 2018.
Willard says that he is not running on a particular issue or to make changes to how the town is governed.
“I love what the town is doing and I want to help that continue,” he said. “I think this is a great opportunity and I feel ready to make hard decisions and represent a diversity of people.”
Willard says that communication and transparency are always important and improvements in these areas increase efficiency and community support.
The town is strongly encouraging absentee ballots and early voting by mail to avoid in-person voting during the Covid-19 pandemic. Poles will be open May 4, however, from noon to 8 p.m. at the Community Center. Voting areas will be sanitized after each use and physical distancing will be in place.
As more people begin to find themselves under financial stress and food insecurity rises, several small Hilltowns have set up grassroots food pantries to ease hunger in the region.
Sixth grade teacher Jennifer Black and parent Cindy Kassell have set up an emergency pantry outside the Anne T. Dunphy School in Williamsburg.
“Hearing all of the numbers of people losing jobs and seeing all of the chaos around the world, I was just trying to think of a way to give back,” Kassell said.
The pair put together a simple way for people to donate or access food.
“We decided to get some bins and put food in them for people in need,” Black said. “At first that was just four Tupperware containers, but that has now been replaced by a very sturdy metal construction crate.”
Located outside of the school’s front door, the large box is open for people to add donations of non-perishable foods or to take what they need. On Wednesday afternoon, the box was full of various canned goods, rice, cereal, pasta, juice, and granola bars, as well as pet food, and protective gloves and masks.
“It’s a very simple concept and it’s working very well,” Black said. “I have watched the amount go down and then by the next day it is filled up again.”
The Anne T. Dunphy School is located at 1 Petticoat Hill Road in Williamsburg.
Normally held on the first Saturday in May, the Plainfield Select Board has set the annual Town Meeting and election for Saturday, June 20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are hoping this will work, it seems to be the most reasonable schedule we could set,” Select Board Chairman Howard Bronstein said.
The town has also scheduled a town caucus for May 27, however, Bronstein said that because the situation with the pandemic continues to remain in flux, nothing can be written in stone at this point.
“There is a fifty-fifty chance that we might have to change the Town Meeting and elections again,” he said.
For up to date information, residents should consult the town’s website at Plainfield-ma.us.