BUCKLAND — Two residents are vying for a seat on the town’s Board of Health at its Monday annual election.
Roma Estevez, a nurse practitioner and sex therapist, is challenging the incumbent Marti Taft-Ferguson, a trained laboratory technician who now runs a small sheep farm in Buckland.
Both candidates work in different sectors of the health industry and say they are seeking a Board of Health seat to serve the town with skills they have honed in their respective careers
Polls are open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. upstairs in Buckland Town Hall.
Estevez
Estevez, 52, said the position “feels like a natural match” as she has worked in multiple pockets of the health industry as a nurse, therapist and restaurant owner. Currently, Estevez works as a sex therapist at her own practice in Buckland and a psychiatric nurse practitioner at a Cummington rehabilitation center called Swift River. She previously co-owned the former Shelburne Falls restaurant, A Bottle of Bread, she said, and as a result has been on the receiving end of health inspections and understands the process.
As a Board of Health member, Estevez seeks to give back to her town, she said.
“I’m interested in civic duty, I want to volunteer, and this seemed like an appropriate place where I could apply my expertise and my training,” Estevez said.
Born in England, Estevez moved to upstate New York at 12 years old, before moving to San Francisco as a young adult. In her early 30s, Estevez moved to Franklin County with her then-partner, she said and where she has remained for its open-minded residents and scenery belonging on a postcard.
“It’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere,” Estevez said. “It’s culturally rich in a way that I didn’t expect. Coming from a big city, it’s physically lush, which is important to me.”
Taft-Ferguson
Incumbent Taft-Ferguson moved from Minnesota to Buckland five years ago as the result of a “happy accident.” She and her husband were looking for houses in the Northeast when they happened upon Buckland and were struck by its creative, friendly culture, evidenced by its rich bulletin boards and three book stores for only 2,000 residents.
And as is a common story for Buckland newcomers, a week after moving to town Taft-Ferguson and her husband were invited to their neighbors’ home for a cookout.
“I don’t want to get gushy, but I’m really extraordinarily grateful,” Taft-Ferguson said. “I don’t quite believe it. People here really care about one another.”
During her career, Taft-Ferguson worked as a clinical laboratory technician and owned a bookstore and coffee bar. In her retirement she changed course and started a sheep farm, now with roughly 18 adults and 17 lambs, selling fiber, pelt and meat. While the farm is more hobby than career, Taft-Ferguson said, she draws “a great deal of satisfaction and meaning from taking care of these creatures,” as well as making decisions and building a farm on her own.
During her three-year tenure on the Board of Health, Taft-Ferguson has enjoyed the variety of topics coming across her desk, ranging from wood stoves to biomass to vaping. She has also liked talking to residents and understanding their views to determine a path forward that “everybody can live with,” she said.
Having learned a “great deal” over the past three years, Taft-Ferguson is seeking re-election to “keep that momentum going.”
“There’s plenty to be done and I feel like I’m getting better at it,” Taft-Ferguson said.
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.