GILL — Voters will head to Town Hall on Monday, May 18, to cast their votes to decide the outcome of a Selectboard race in which ballot candidate Jenn Waldron faces write-in challenger Dan Flagg, along with weigh in on a debt exclusion for the Gill Elementary School roof project.
Voting will take place at Gill Town Hall, 325 Main Road, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Jenn Waldron
Waldron, 55, has lived in Gill since 1997 and is a graduate of Turners Falls High School. She then attended Greenfield Community College for her associate degree, the University of Massachusetts Amherst through its University Without Walls program, and then Antioch University, where she has her master’s degree in counseling. She works in private practice as a mental health clinician, specifically with first responders and uniformed services, which includes the six armed forces.
Waldron has previous municipal experience on the Gill-Montague Regional School District School Committee from 2009 to 2014, and is currently serving on the Finance Committee.
Waldron said the inspiration for her candidacy came after she learned board member Greg Snedeker wasn’t seeking reelection, but it wasn’t the first time she thought about running for Selectboard.
“Instead of just jumping in, I thought, maybe I should volunteer and join the Finance Committee for a little while, and get my foot in, and get a taste for what it really would be like,” she said.
If elected, Waldron said she’s interested in “responsive government.” She wants the Selectboard to use “active listening” to hear each resident’s thoughts and concerns, and she aspires to be a “true representative.”
Something Waldron is hoping to address, if elected, is education funding between the town and the Gill-Montague Regional School District. She said her hope is to maintain communication between the Selectboard and School Committee on the issue of funding.
As for her qualifications for Selectboard, Waldron cited both her municipal experience and her desire to listen to residents. She hopes to be a sounding board for their thoughts and concerns to find solutions for her fellow neighbors.
“My style would be proactive, listening to the residents of Gill and not just doing what I think or want,” Waldron said. “I really just don’t have a hidden agenda. My goal is service to my community.”
Dan Flagg
Flagg, 61, is a fourth-generation farmer at Flagg Farm on Main Road. He grew up in Gill, attending Gill Elementary School before going to Turners Falls High School, then Franklin County Technical School, where he graduated from the automotive program. He attended a technical college in Ohio before returning to the farm in 2011. He’s been attending Gill meetings for more than a year to learn more about the ins and outs of town government, and joined the Agricultural Commission last year.
Flagg said he tried to encourage his peers to also run for Selectboard, and after a while, he decided to run himself as a write-in candidate.
“I don’t want to be a multiple-choice question,” Flagg said of the ballot. “I want the people to put me there.”
To help get his name out, Flagg has been distributing cards with election information, including stickers reading “Daniel R. Flagg,” so voters know what to put on the ballot.
Flagg said his main goal in serving on the Selectboard, if elected, would be to get more of his neighbors involved with town affairs and sharing ideas about what can be done to support the town.
“It really makes a difference when people get involved,” he said.
Flagg shared his appreciation for the knowledgeable people of Town Hall and said that they do the best they can, while still hoping to see greater efficiencies, like keeping up with town building maintenance through capital planning and ensuring an annual town report is available each year. To accomplish that, he said he would conduct frequent follow-ups with town staff, even after Selectboard meetings have wrapped up.
As for his personal experiences and personality, Flagg said he’d be an effective Selectboard member due to his ability to find the middle ground with residents who feel strongly about a topic. Additionally, what he said makes him a unique candidate is being a farmer with “common sense” and “frugal” sensibilities.
Other races
The other positions on the ballot are as follows:
- Board of Assessors, three-year term — Alexander Buedinger.
- Cemetery Commission, three-year term — Fred O. Chase III.
- Constable, three positions with three-year terms — new candidate Alexander Buedinger, and incumbents Craig D. Gaudry and Fred O. Chase III.
- Library trustee, three-year term — Megan Bathory-Peeler, incumbent.
- Board of Health, three-year term — Charles Garbiel II, incumbent.
- Tree warden, three-year term — Joseph Williams, incumbent.
- School Committee, three-year term, Gill representative — William Tomb, incumbent.
- School Committee, two seats with three-year terms, Montague representatives — Clifford Spatcher, incumbent, and new candidate Sue Ann Richardson.
There is a one-year term on the Board of Assessors with no ballot candidate that can still be won by write-in votes.
The ballot question relates to the school roof project that voters approved at Annual Town Meeting on May 4. Voters will be asked, “Shall the town of Gill be allowed to exempt from the provisions of Proposition 2½, so-called, the amounts required to pay for the bond issued in order to perform a roof replacement and building accessibility compliance renovations for the Gill Elementary School?”
To view a mock ballot, visit gillmass.org.
