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Date: 4/19/2022
WILLIAMSBURG – There are few contested races on the ballot for the May 2 Annual Town Election, but one could have a significant impact on the direction of the town.
Patrick Sumner hopes to unseat incumbent David Mathers, the current chair of the Board of Selectmen, and stymy his bid for re-election. Mathers, a resident of Eastern Avenue, responded by commenting on all the work the board accomplished while he has been a member.
“We built the new replacement school, the Anne T. Dunphy School,” Mathers said. “I helped spearhead that through the town, with very little opposition.”
Mathers points to the fiscal prudence of increasing the town’s reserve fund to roughly $1.5 million. About $1 million of the savings will be used for the impending construction of a public safety complex. The town has a healthy balance in free cash, Mathers said, and continues to have a solid revenue stream from taxation.
“We do still have high taxes in town, that’s the one issue,” Mathers said. “We’ve been able to give the schools what they want, and been able to build up our Highway Department and Fire Department with equipment, things like that, so I think we’ve done very well.”
Mathers, a lifelong resident, “except when I was in the service,” ran a car repair station for seven years, followed by a 34-year career as a mechanic for National Grid. He served on the board for the last 12 years, of which four have been as chair, a position with more responsibilities.
Mathers said he feels a responsibility to see the Mountain Street project completed, an $11.7 million effort to widen the road connecting Williamsburg to Whately. He particularly appreciated that the town managed to get the commonwealth to pay for engineering, about a $300,000 savings. “We got them to pick up that cost,” Mathers said.
He acknowledged the project doesn’t have universal support. He said he heard residents complain about the land taking that will be necessary. Residents have been hard to convince the town needs the Mountain Street work, though for Mathers it’s a safety issue.
“There’s not much land being taken, being used for that project,” Mathers said. “[But] it’s not safe for motorcycles and bicycles, because of the narrowness of the road and the traffic there. As much as I appreciate the landowners concern, you still need to have a safe road.”
Mathers acknowledged other problems, one being the lack of land for development and growth. New construction is rare, further complicating the tax picture. Climate change is being addressed with a new charging station at the public safety complex and hybrid cruisers for the police.
Mathers, having discussed Mountain Street and the successful campaigns for the replacement of public buildings, said, “I don’t think there’s any other big issues in town.”
The issues Mathers raised were enough to motivate Sumner, a resident of Mountain Street, to run against him. The problem for Sumner? A lack of planning, he said, “is a small failure of leadership here.”
Sumner pointed to the collapse of culverts in town as a failure to plan ahead. A concrete culvert on Depot Road failed and was covered with a metal plate “for ages.” Town Hall also received a call “that there was a massive pothole on one of the all weather roads a little bit to the north of downtown.” A metal culvert had failed.
“It’s not like you can’t know,” Sumner said. Concrete and metal culverts show their age, he said, and can be examined for wear and tear. “You just lean over and look inside.”
Sumner’s candidacy appears somewhat motivated by the continuing push by Town Hall to do the Mountain Street project. A resident of Mountain Street for almost five years, Sumner noted that, as Mathers acknowledged, the residents don’t want the road widened.
The Mountain Street project has a budget of $11.7 million and is part of the Complete Streets program of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The program promotes intermodal use of thoroughfares by foot and bicycle traffic, as well as vehicles. Multiple use, however, calls for major changes.
“Good in practice, but it also comes with the need to widen the road,” Sumner said. “The town and the Board of Selectmen have been aware … for better part of a decade, that the residents of the street are uninterested in widening it.”
Sumner said land takings will be necessary to widen the road to 26 feet. An increased need for run-off control will make settling ponds and swales necessary. An artificial wetlands will be created. New piping, new culverts, curbs and guardrails will make Mountain Street “a much larger road with a very different character.”
“What the MassDOT is planning came as a surprise to everybody,” Sumner said. “That was the result of the lack of communication while the project was ongoing … [about] the town’s interests and the will of the residents therein.”
Sumner emphasized the road has been neglected and that “It looks like a quilt right now, it’s been patched and patched.” Nevertheless, if elected, he will focus on the town as a whole. As a newer resident, he said he feels connected to Williamsburg, it feels like home.
“Why did I choose to run?” he said. “I want to be able to provide a place where all the people at the stores, the restaurants, the markets, can thrive. The Post Office can stay open. The farms and fields and forests, the parks and trails can stay as they are. I want people to be able to rest easy. I want the schools stay open.”
Sumner sees the Mountain Street project as more than a source of conflict between those who want it and those who don’t. It’s also a threat to the fiscal solvency of the town.
“If the town runs into trouble those budget expenditures might really be a problem,” Sumner said. “If we have to take a loan to deal with an emergency then that comes out of the budget next year … You’re kicking the can down the road infinitely, or something suffers. I want to protect everything in this town.”
Polls for this year’s election will be open at Williamsburg Town Hall from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Annual Town Meeting will follow on June 6, starting at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Anne T. Dunphy Elementary School.