Library Board Only Race in Williamstown Election

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Voters in May will have one contested election on the ballot.
 
Four candidates have had their nomination papers certified for two available three-year seats on the Milne Public Library Board of Trustees in a race that voters will sort out when they go to the polls on Tuesday, May 12.
 
Janet Curran, Martin Mitsoff, Kathleen Schultze and Michael Sussman — all potential newcomers to the seven-person board — have been certified as candidates for the two open seats on the library's governing body.
 
Those two positions along with five other local government posts will be on the ballot for the annual town election.
 
For the Select Board, only incumbents Stephanie Boyd and Shana Dixon submitted papers to be returned to their three-year seats.
 
A third seat on the five-person board also is on the ballot. Newcomer Nathaniel Budington submitted papers to run for the final year on an unexpired term vacated by Jeffrey Johnson.
 
Two other candidates are running unopposed to retain their seats after Tuesday's deadline to submit nomination papers expired. Stephen Dew is running for another five-year seat on the Housing Authority, and Roger Lawrence is running for another five years on the Planning Board.
 
The last day to register to vote in the spring election is Friday, May 1. The last day to request a mail-in ballot is Tuesday, May 5.
 
In-person voting is scheduled for 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 12 at Williamstown Elementary School.
 
The annual town meeting — also open to all registered voters — is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, at 7 p.m., at WES.
 
That meeting will make the final decision on the town's spending plan for fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, and address several other issues, including: approval of the town's grants under the Community Preservation Act, proposed changes to the town's accessory dwelling unit bylaw to bring it into compliance with state law, a proposal that the town adopt provisions of the commonwealth's Seasonal Communities law and three articles submitted by way of citizens petition.
 
On Monday evening Town Manager Robert Menicocci told the Select Board that three sets of petitions were submitted by that day's deadline. One would ban the use of biosolids as fertilizer or soil amendments, one would expand the town's ban on second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides on town-owned land to include all private property and the third would amend the 2015's bylaw banning single-use plastic bags and polystyrene food containers, Select Board Chair Stephanie Boyd told her colleagues on Monday.

Tags: election 2026,   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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