MONTAGUE — The only Selectboard candidate on the ballot for the June 22 election is Ashley Arthur, owner and chef of the Five Eyed Fox restaurant, although incumbent Mike Nelson, who has been on the board since 2013, is weighing whether to run as a write-in candidate.
Originally, when nominations opened in February, Nelson said he would most likely run for re-election. However, he said he misunderstood the process for getting on the ballot as an incumbent, and so when nominations closed following the Montague Democratic Town Committee’s caucus Wednesday night, he ended up not on the ballot in any capacity.
Thursday morning, Nelson said he’s taking the occasion to reconsider whether he still wants to be on the Selectboard. Nelson works for the state Department of Public Health, and said he is working 70- to 80-hour weeks because of the COVID-19 crisis.
“The uncertainty of where the pandemic is going to go in the next few months or year, and the amount of time I am putting into the response at the state level,” Nelson said, “has me thinking a bit deeper about whether, at this point, I can commit to the town the way I have been, and want to, going forward in the future.”
Additionally, he and his wife are expecting their first baby to be born within days of the election, he said.
If he does run, Nelson said, he is confident in his chances of winning.
Meanwhile, Ashley Arthur was nominated doubly in that she both took out nomination papers and collected the necessary voter signatures, and she won Wednesday’s Democratic caucus with 21 votes out of 34 total.
“It went great,” she said the next morning.
Arthur has lived in Montague since 2014. She said she doesn’t have specific issues with the direction of town government, but wants to participate in public service.
“I like our current Selectboard. I want to work with them,” Arthur said. “I just want to participate with a younger, more progressive voice. … As a downtown business owner who’s seen a lot of the growth in the past five or six years, I think I have a good perspective.”
The Selectboard will have its work cut out. Nelson, discussing what he saw as the major projects on the board’s agenda for the foreseeable future, mentioned the ongoing effort to facilitate redevelopment of the Canal District; the constant improvement and maintenance of streets, sidewalks and buildings; working with the Water Pollution Control Facility to keep sewer rates reasonable; all against the backdrop of the likely “devastating” economic effects of the pandemic.
“It’s a seven-day-a-week job,” Nelson said.
Reach Max Marcus at
mmarcus@recorder.com or
413-930-4231.