The vote was triggered by the departure of select board member Joe Diver in late 2024 after he took a job with Signature Healthcare in Brockton. A January 15th debate was held by iBerkshires.com at the town Senior Center.
“I’d like to keep Dalton a wonderful, safe and secure place to live," said Pat Carsell, who has run a dentistry practice in Dalton for over 30 years. "We need to focus on roads and sidewalks. Personally, that's what I've had a complaint with over the years, is the condition of some roads in town. Not so much sidewalks, but I understand, I know people are using them regularly, and they need to be both copacetic and functional. So, the maintenance and infrastructure of the town would be most important to me- And without overburdening the taxpayer, of course.”
Robert Collins is a landscaper and forester who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Robert Bishop for a seat on the five-member select board last year.
“I believe that transparency in this town is huge, and I believe it comes from communication with the public," he said. "The voters of the town vote for us select men to do what they believe their wish is. Now, am I or any of these guys up here going to make every townsperson happy? No, not going to happen. And if we think we're going to make everybody happy, we're delusional. But what we can do is try to get out the information, and try to get in all the information we can possibly retain from you by being available, by possibly sending out these questionnaires that come back to us so we can get a larger consensus of what the true population feels.”
Rich Haley is the president of the 12th-Man Football Booster Club, a nonprofit that supports youth football in the Dalton community.
“We have one of the highest tax brackets in Berkshire County," he said. "I want to reduce that in any way that we can, whether it's cutting- Whatever we have to do to get more money into the town. Like I said, my kids are one of the main reasons I love this town. There's nothing I wouldn't for this town. I spent the last 12 years within the football program, running the football program, making sure these kids have the tools necessary to succeed in life. And I want to make sure, I want to take what I've learned over those last 12 years, bring them into the town, make the town work as one, make the town more transparent.”
The fourth candidate is Levi Renderer, who works in sales for Mirabito Energy Products.
“I see the role of a select board member as being like a representative for the people of the town," he said. "I don't really have specific personal needs. I believe in selflessness, I believe in helping people. I get to help people all the time in my business now that I do- I'm at people's houses, helping them when usually they don't have heat, hot water, helping them with a solution, make them more efficient, save them money in their energy needs. And I just think being a representative and helping people with their needs.”
The special election is February 3rd. Diver’s unfinished three-year term was set to expire in May.
Audio in this story was provided by iBerkshires.com.
