Letter: Why I Support Shana Dixon for Williamstown Select Board

Letter to the Editor01:18PM / Thursday, May 08, 2025Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

As a former Select Board member (2015–2021), I am excited to see a new candidate, Shana Dixon, running for Select Board. After two terms on the board, I stepped aside to make room for new voices: I recognized the importance of not overstaying my time.

As a board "retiree," you can mentor new Select Board members without the risk of violating open meeting law; you can speak at public meetings, where your perspective is informed by your experience and service to the town; you can volunteer as a community member on committees such as the Affordable Housing Trust, DIRE, and CPC; and, you can continue to advocate at Town Hall for the issues you care about. It was clear to me that prolonged time on the board could begin to distort your perspective, inflate your sense of power, and cause you to lose touch with those outside your own bubble.

I am impressed by Shana Dixon, the current chair of the DIRE committee, who has not hesitated to step up for this community, while also operating her own small business and juggling life as a single mom of two young children. Working in property management (Shana owns and manages several short-term rental properties), Shana has a clear-eyed understanding of the challenges facing our community, especially the shortage of affordable housing, the obstacles to economic development, and the need for increased sustainability and climate action. Shana is down-to-earth, approachable, and funny. She has fresh energy and ideas to offer our town, and a desire to see our local government truly work for all residents. When she speaks of inclusive governance, she has the listening skills and lived experience to make it a reality. Shana is ready to hit the ground running and be a prepared and impactful member of the board this year.

I am excited to see Williamstown open its doors to a new perspective and new expertise on the Select Board. I hope you will join me in supporting Shana Dixon on Tuesday, May 13.

Anne C O'Connor
Williamstown, Mass.

Tags: town elections,

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

Save & Earn with Greylock

3.30% APY 6-month certificate. Click to learn more! Insured by NCUA.

www.greylock.org

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Willinet Cameras to Capture Monday's Williamstown Select Board Session

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
02:31PM / Saturday, October 24, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board's third-floor meeting to complete its evaluation process for the town manager will be televised by the town's public, educational and governmental television station.

Willinet Executive Director Teri Yuan confirmed this week that the station will put a camera in the upstairs conference room to record a planned 8 p.m. single-item agenda meeting to do the annual review of Town Manager Robert Menicocci.

The board at its last meeting decided to break the evaluation out from its regular 7 p.m. meeting in the first floor Community Meeting room, which is set up with multiple cameras and audio equipment to facilitate live Willinet telecasts of most public meetings of town boards and committees.

The Select Board offered no real explanation for the desire to complete the evaluation in an otherwise public meeting outside of view from Willinet's cameras other than a desire to "sit around the table" rather than sit on one side of a large table along one side of the first floor meeting room.

The "sit around the table" talk was particularly puzzling given the fact that Willinet has a camera mounted on the wall behind the spot where Menicocci generally sits for Select Board meetings, a camera that gives a full view of both sides of the table, and an angle that Willinet frequently uses when panels like the Finance Committee invite participants to sit across the table from the committee to give testimony.

Perhaps the real reason is better explained by a joking comment from one Select Board member at the Sept. 28 meeting who indicated that doing the evaluation without access to things like Zoom capability was "the object" of moving that business to the third-floor meeting room.

The evaluation discussion on Monday evening will follow on a survey of the five board members assessing Menicocci's performance in fiscal year 2026, which ended on June 30.

View Full Story