WILLIAMSTOWN - Contested races for Selectmen and School Committee will be featured as part of the town election on May 8.

Thomas Sheldon, currently chairman of the Selectmen, will seek re-election to a threeyear term on the board. He will face challenger Justin Adkins, a website developer and assistant director of the Multicultural Center at Williams College.

"I care deeply about Williamstown, and thought that this was one way that I could serve my community," Adkins said Wednesday.

If elected, he will bring the voice of the 20 to 40-year-old population to the board, he said.

He also looks forward to working with the Williamstown Affordable Housing Committee, if elected, he said.

"We need to look, as a town, at this crisis, and address it head on. The Affordable Housing Committee is doing a great job," he said.

Sheldon, 66, is also a proponent of affordable housing, and said that after the damage The Spruces Mobile Home Park sustained during Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011, he knew he had to seek re-election.

"The aftermath of that is not just immediate, but there is also the long-range picture of affordable housing and how to replace the affordable housing that was lost at The Spruces," he said.

Other issues that he plans to continue addressing, if elected, are finding the right balance between development and the environment, attending to the economic and commercial well being of the town, and managing the town in a way that is prudent,

Advertisement
and minimizes the tax demand on citizens, while providing good, responsive services, he said.

While no incumbents are seeking re-election to the School Committee, there is no shortage of candidates.

Theodore Anagnos, Darryl Lee Brown, Christopher Jones and Richard J. Scullin III will run for two, three-year terms on the School Committee.

Candidates running for election uncontested include:

M. Geoffrey Hedden for a three-year term on the Library Trustees.

Chris Winters for a five-year term on the Planning Board.

Thomas Mahar for a three-year term on the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School Committee.

David L. Mangun for a five-year term on the Housing Authority.

Joan S. Burns for a two-year term on the Housing Authority.