ASHFIELD — Voters will decide the outcome of a Selectboard race and consider a $200,000 debt-exclusion vote to buy a new town dump truck when they go to the polls on Saturday for the annual town election. The polls on the first floor of Town Hall will be open from 10:15 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Mary Link and Steve Gougeon are both running for the three-year selectboard seat being vacated by Ron Coler.
Link has lived in town for 33 years, has served on the Finance Committee for seven years and directed the Ashfield Community Preschool. She has also served on the Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee, its Budget Subcommittee, and on Sanderson Academy’s Local Education Council. She has also served on one of the town’s police review committees.
“Backstage work has given me an appreciation of Town Hall’s structure and hidden issues that most of us don’t get to see,” she remarked.
“I’ve encouraged a number of people — particularly women to run for Selectboard — and they’ve said: ‘Why don’t you run?’ It was not the right time in my life to run,” said Link. “But this is something I’ve thought about for a long time, and now I’m at that stage.”
“I am ready to take on the issues current facing Ashfield — rural school financing, proposed bylaws for large-scale infrastructure and regulation of recreational marijuana, getting broadband to everyone, supporting our town staff, caring for our public safety, buildings, lake and roads,” she said, in a campaign statement.
“I want to help Ashfield grow in ways that are beneficial and sustainable for our pocket books and the environment, while retaining the heart and spirit of our community,” said Link.
“Democracy, in general, works best in small-scale government,” says Steve Gougeon, a cabinet maker who grows organic apples and cider at the Bear Swamp Orchard and Cider Mill.
Gougeon was born in Ashfield and graduated from Sanderson Academy and the Mohawk Trail Regional School. He worked in the outdoor adventure industry in his 20s and the returned to Ashfield in 1999, where he and his wife rehabbed an abandoned apple orchard on his family-owned land.
He currently runs his own business, Apple Valley Woodworking, and he and his wife run the pick-your-own organic apple orchard and cidery.
Although Gougeon has not held an elected position, he served for a decade on the town’s Historical Commission — with eight of those years as chairman. He was also one of the organizers of the town’s recent 250th celebration.
Gougeon says he has no agenda for serving on the board, beyond “managing the budget, keeping things balanced.”
“I’m interested in technology in our town,” he said. “I see that a boon for local business. I’m looking forward to seeing how the whole broadband thing works out. I know it’s going to be expensive, but having that technology could benefit small farms.”
Gougeon said he’s had people from outside the region visit his apple orchard and use his limited personal data to look up directions or nearby places to eat. He believes more local businesses and farms would benefit when visitors have data access.
“I think things are going smoothly in town right now for people,” he said, adding that the current Selectboard “is trying to make sure things work right for people.
The following candidates are unopposed on the ballot.
One-year terms: Town Moderator Stewart “Buz” Eisenberg; Tree Warden Tom Poissant.
Three-year terms: Board of Assessors Amy Shapiro; Finance Committee Kyle Taylor; Board of Health Carrie O’Gorman; Constable Warren Kirkpatrick; Park Commissioner Helene Leue; Sewer Commissioner Nancy Hoff; and for the School Committee seat being vacated by Emily Robertson, candidate Jennifer Markens.
Five-year terms: Planning Board, Jane Shaney; Library Trustee, Caroline Murray.