CHESHIRE, Mass. — E. Richard Scholz believes with his experience in business he is the right candidate to bring change to Cheshire.

 

"I am the change agent ...  and we need an entrepreneur," Scholz said. "Someone who is willing to look at the town like a business and take risks. This is Cheshire's last best chance to get an innovator."  

 

Scholz, who currently serves on the Advisory Board, has made two previous runs for selectman and heads his own telecommunications consulting firm. He has 20-plus years' experience in project management and consulting experience within the telecommunications industry.

 

"I want things put on the table and not taken off ... nothing gets done," he said. "I ran major multimillion-dollar projects with a set of good minutes and a spreadsheet and I can do it again."  

 

Scholz vowed to be an active selectman who seeks out projects 

 

"Our selectmen have no objectives and no goals," he said. "The people who have run the town for years have been reactive rather than proactive."

 

He said if elected, he plans to update the town's website, advocate for a full-time town administrator, put a plan in motion to fix infrastructure and project budgets out three years instead of just one.

 

Scholz said he does not support the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District budget that closes Cheshire Elementary School and believes no matter what, Cheshire Elementary will stay open in some form.

 

"We are at a tipping point, and we have been told we have to close an elementary school that we never wanted to close," he said. "The School Committee put some put some really good bread around the sandwich called the budget. They have none GMO gluten free flour in it and they are talking about all of the nice benefits we will get in a larger school but it is still crap sandwich inside."

 

He said he plans to pick through the school budget as a selectman and not allow the district to close Cheshire.

 

Scholz said he as a selectman he wants to garner more civic involvement.

 

"Probably a third of the adult population does not vote because they are not registered or they vote only in state and federal elections," he said. "They certainly don't show up at town meeting and that is a real problem because these people could make all the difference in the town and we have to find a way to energize."  

 

Scholz will face off against Edmund St. John IV. Both will vie for longtime selectman Paul Astorino's seat. Astorino has decided not to seek re-election.

 

The election is Monday, May 1.