Nomination Deadline Passes for Williamstown Elections

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Voters will have two contested races on the ballot when they go to the polls for town elections in May.
 
Tuesday was the deadline to submit nomination papers for 12 positions that will be up for election this spring.
 
The town will see a two-person race for one one-year term on the Select Board and a five-person field running for four three-year seats on the Milne Library Board of Trustees.
 
In all, three seats on the five-member Select Board will be determined in May.
 
Just two candidates submitted papers for the two full three-year seats available: Peter Beck and Matthew Neely.
 
Neely currently is serving a portion of a term that was vacated last year by Andrew Hogeland, who moved out of the area in the middle of his three-year term.
 
Beck is coming off a five-year term on the Planning Board, which he currently chairs.
 
They are running for the seats currently held by Jane Patton and Randal Fippinger, who are not seeking re-election.
 
Meanwhile, Shana Dixon and Patton, the board's longest-serving incumbent, each have submitted papers to run for the remaining year on the seat formerly held by Hogeland.
 
Patton, who is finishing her fourth full term on the Select Board, said last year that she would not seek another full term. More recently, she indicated she would be interested in filling the last year of Hogeland's term to provide some continuity on the body.
 
Dixon currently chairs the town's Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee, a post formerly held by both Patton and Select Board member Jeffrey Johnson.
 
There are four full terms and five seats in all on the ballot for the library trustees.
 
Incumbent Bridget Spann is following a similar route to Patton, running for the final year of an unexpired term on the body; she is unopposed.
 
For the four three-year Milne board seats, five candidates have filed papers: incumbents Robin Lenz, Micah Manary and Benjamin Lee-Cohen and newcomers Adriana Brown and Katherine Myers.
 
The other four positions on the ballot each have one candidate entered.
 
Moderator Elisabeth Goodman is seeking another three-year term in the post. Incumbents Judith Bombardier and David Westall are standing for re-election on the Housing Authority and Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School Committee, respectively.
 
And just one candidate, Erik Reardon, submitted papers to run for an open five-year seat on the Planning Board.
 
The deadline to withdraw nomination papers is Thursday, April 10.
 
The deadline to register to vote in the May election and participate in the annual town meeting is Friday, May 2, at 5 p.m.
 
The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Tuesday, May 6, at 5 p.m. The last day for in-person absentee voting is Monday, May 12, at noon.
 
And the town elections will be held from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, at Williamstown Elementary School.
 
Town meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m. at Mount Greylock Regional School

Tags: election 2025,   town elections,   


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Williamstown Select Board Plans Off-Camera Evaluation of Town Manager

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board plans to take extraordinary measures to avoid having its discussion of the town manager's performance recorded by the town's Public, Educational and Government cameras.
 
At its Sept. 28 meeting, the board decided to hold a special meeting in a room not covered by WilliNet cameras to complete its annual evaluation process of Town Manager Robert Menicocci.
 
Chair Peter Beck said that while the evaluation is "absolutely" to be conducted in an open meeting, the board could follow a process similar to the off site, unrecorded meetings that past Select Boards have characterized as "retreats," a term not contemplated by or included in the commonwealth's Open Meeting Law.
 
The current board met on June 29 for what it characterized as a "planning session" where no formal votes were taken. That meeting was held outside of Town Hall, at the new fire station on Main Street, in a room equipped with audio and video recording equipment that the Select Board chose not to use.
 
At the Sept. 28 meeting, one board member indicated that an unrecorded meeting was preferable to discuss the annual evaluation of the one town employee supervised by the board.
 
"I'd like to do it without all the Willinet stuff," Stephanie Boyd said in a discussion toward the end of a two-hour meeting. "I think it's more conducive to conversation."
 
With the board expected to meet just once in October — its "regular" meeting date coincides with Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 12 — Beck suggested that the panel could find a date for a special meeting, suggesting the third Monday of the month, Oct. 19.
 
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