Adams Candidate Interviews: John Duval & Donald Sommer
This is the second of two sets of interviews with the four candidates running for two three-year seats on the Board of Selectmen. The candidates are Heather Cachat Blake, James Bush, John Duval and Donald Sommer. A fifth candidate, Wayne Piaggi, decided not to run.
ADAMS, Mass. — The town election on May 7 will see two familiar names on the ballot for selectman: incumbent John Duval and former board member Donald Sommer.
Duval, currently chairman, said he is already familiar with all the projects in town and believes his experience will continue to be an asset to the select board.
"I bring experience with budgeting and I have leadership skills," Duval said. "Just knowledge of the political environment and the structure of our community. I have pretty much covered every asset of it as a board member."
Duval is in his sixth year as a selectman but before that spent 17 years on the Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee. He also has volunteered with local youth sports organizations and is an employee at General Dynamics.
Duval said he wants to continue to serve because he wants to see many of the town projects through and enjoys the work.
"I really have a lot of desire for community service," he said. "My kids are all grown up and moved out and I have time to give back and I enjoy it."
He said he is happy to see that the Berkshire Scenic Railway Project is coming to completion and that the fiscal 2019 budget should yield a decrease in the tax rate. He said the Greylock Glen still is a focus of his and he is happy the town is finally making some movement on it.
Duval said moving forward he would like to continue "right-sizing" the town and bringing town services to a level that the town can afford and that better fits its population.
"We are now approximately at 8,500 residents and we have had relatively the same service and structure for the last 20 to 30 years," Duval said. "We need to start going down that path and right-sizing the town but you don't want to give up the services that people really enjoy."
This is critical with rising costs, he said, and believes the town can maintain many of its services by sharing with other communities and looking for opportunities to regionalize.
Duval said he would also be interested in a charter review and possibly preparing the town to move toward a shared or part-time town administrator.
"We are at a point where we have to make some determinations from the top and which way we are going forward," he said. "We would have to go through a charter review, but we need to talk about this as a board."
One project specifically Duval said he was interested in pursuing if re-elected was establishing a second industrial park.
"The business park that we currently have is a huge success story and many people don't realize that we have hundreds of jobs down there," Duval said. "There is only one spot left down there …and I would like to identify a second business park and try to attract small manufacturing businesses. We need jobs."
Duval said if re-elected he will continue to work hard.
"You are going to get 110 percent out of me, and I am going to be at every meeting and I am going to fight for Adams," he said. "I have lived here my entire life and I want Adams to succeed."
Sommer, also a former chairman, said he wants to return to the select board with his experience and leadership.
"I think I can I can do a better job than some of the others and one of my themes is that experience counts," he said. "I have a great deal of experience and we have had other people run for the select board without experience and they haven't been very successful, quite frankly."
Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He was the former chairman of Northern Berkshire Mental Health and currently is one of two Americans who sits on the Board of the World Haflinger Association in Austria.
He touted his leadership skills and noted that he has run successful businesses, including the Haflinger Haus Restaurant and Inn and the Greylock Apartments.
"I am pretty outspoken and one reason I want to return to the select board is I want to make a contribution to the community," he said. "I think you can see without exception that every organization I have been involved with I have been elected the president or the chairman and I think that is because the other members have confidence in me."
Sommer said his main focus if re-elected will be lowering the tax rate.
"Everyone will say taxes and of course it is," Sommer said. "Our tax rate is out of line compared to other communities in Berkshire County and it is not an easy fix, but I think there are a lot of small things we can do."
Sommer said he wants to get a handle on deferred maintenance and stop putting projects off until they become too costly.
He added that he thought Chapter 90 road funds should be put into town roads instead of other projects
Sommer said he did not support putting money into the Memorial Building without a solid plan and a commitment from a developer.
"I am really concerned about putting over a million dollars into that building," Sommer said. "I know there is some interest but until they tack that down and know that these people are really coming in pouring over a million in with no plan — no businessman would do that."
He wants to investigate sharing more resources with surrounding communities and said he did not agree with many of the current Community Development Block Grant projects. He said he would be more interested in using funds to hire a person who only works with businesses and economic development.
"We don't have anybody whose sole job is to help the local businesses that we have and hopefully have them expand but also go out and bring some business back to town," he said. "No one is doing that."
Sommer said pledged that he would "do his homework" and be an informed member of the select board.
"I have seen other members of the board come to a meeting, pick up and agenda that night and kind of respond to questions," he said. "I spend two to three hours before every meeting investigating the issues. I know what I am talking about."
Tags: election 2018, town elections,
