GREENFIELD — Precinct 1 Councilor Verne Sund has decided he wants to run for re-election despite a term riddled with controversy over language and political correctness.
Sund, who was the subject of a potential citizen’s recall that never got off the ground, said infrastructure issues such as fixing roads and old pipes in town remain important topics to him. Running for the four-year term, he said, is also an opportunity for renewal.
“Some people change; no matter who you are, you can always get better,” Sund said. “The only way I can show the people that see me at meetings and on TV that I’ve changed is to run again.”
Sund will have competition for the seat. Former Greenfield Fire Deputy Chief Ed Jarvis has also pulled papers to run for Precinct 1.
Monday marked the first day to take out papers to run for elected office in this November’s election, which will feature a vote for a new mayor, six Greenfield City Councilors and possibly a vote on a new public library.
“Councilor Sund has given a hundred percent of his time. I know he’s helped out my family. He’s a good man,” said Jarvis, who served on the town’s fire department for 30 years. “It was just time to give people a different choice.”
Jarvis said he hopes to address issues of infrastructure as well, listing the library, fire and police department, while hoping to keep attracting business downtown. He hopes the city can continue to move forward in helping out the homeless. And he wants Greenfield to be “fiscally smart” with taxpayer money.
“I like to be a problem-solver and I believe I could do a good job at doing it,” Jarvis said.
Although two at-large council seats are also open, Jarvis said because his home precinct is up for re-election he felt it was a good seat to run for and to get back into town politics. If Precinct 1 wasn’t open, the retiree said he would have run for the at-large seat.
Sund recalled recent pipe bursts in his precinct. He wants to make sure the city is smartly putting the roads back together and replacing the old clay pipe that Department of Public Works officials have acknowledged are in need of repair.
He wants to keep taxes from rising too much, an often defining characteristic of how Sund has voted while on council.
The sitting councilor did not state what department or projects should be funded less to help pay for his proposed infrastructure fixes. He recalled the library, which he did not vote for in March, and the parking garage as projects that could have taken a back-burner to priorities.
For example, he said, if the pipes in his house were problematic, “I wouldn’t buy a new car with the water pipes breaking.”
Sund has faced heavy public criticism several times while serving on the council, including three watershed moments that led to a citizen’s recall petition to remove him from his seat.
The first came during the 2017 “Safe City” vote, in which he referred to people of color as “colored” — using a term that he thought was still acceptable, like in his childhood in the ‘50s.
In December, during a potential vote on a new public library, Sund said before a Greenfield High School auditorium filled with a couple hundred residents: “I’ve seen different parts of the world that have libraries like this and they got people in wheelchairs and stuff like that, but they go and get there. If they want to read a book, no matter whether they’re disabled or not, they go on and get there.”
In September 2017, during a citywide debate about a proposed needle exchange, Sund said at a Board of Health meeting that people with addiction problems need to be disciplined, “like when you are (a) child and did something wrong, you get a good spanking.”
Sund has apologized publicly and privately for these remarks several times. He said he and his family, including his grandchildren, have received threatening remarks from residents aimed at him.
“I told people I was sorry, I misspoke and things changed a lot over the years,” Sund said.
Sund said the negative and nasty messages he and his family received prompted him to not take calls from residents.
“When I was growing up, my parents used to say to be careful what you say because, excuse my language, it could kick you in the butt,” Sund said. “It’ll hurt you more than anything. You’re suppose to forgive people.”
He remains steadfast in serving the people of Greenfield.
“Rather than putting my head in the sand, like I don’t care about the people,” Sund said, “I’ve changed a lot in a lot of ways. I try to get better. The only way to show people that I can change is in public. If they don’t see me, they’ll think I’m the same person and never will change.”
Nine residents have taken out papers to run for office so far.
For Precinct 1, Sund and Jarvis are out collecting signatures.
No one has taken papers out for the open precinct. Only one person, James Henry, has taken out papers for one of the two open at-large seats. Both at-large councilors, staples of the City Council, Isaac Mass and president Karen “Rudy” Renaud are not expected to run for re-election for those seats.
For Precinct 3, Virginia DeSorgher has taken out papers to run for office. Currently on the Greenfield Planning Board, DeSorgher’s term is up at the end of the year. The precinct’s longtime councilor Brickett Allis is running for mayor instead.
For Precinct 4, John Bottomley and James Henry have taken out papers to run. Henry could run for both an at-large and precinct seat but could only serve on one of them.
Three residents have taken out papers for mayor, all of whom have previously announced their intentions. Mayor William Martin is not running for re-election. Along with Allis, Precinct 6 Councilor Sheila Gilmour and former Planning Board Chairwoman Roxann Wedegartner have taken out papers for the city’s executive seat.
Marilyn Hannan will seek re-election as a trustee for the A.K. Warner Fund, a resource for education money.
You can reach Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 264