Robin Lenz, second from the left, moderates a Williamstown Board of Selectmen candidates forum featuring, from left, Jane Patton, Jeffrey Thomas and Cynthia Payne.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Economic growth, community preservation and cows were among the topics when the three candidates for two spots on the Board of Selectmen participated in a forum sponsored by the town's chapter of the League of Women Voters.

Incumbent Jane Patton sat down with Jeffrey Thomas and Cynthia Payne to tell voters about their qualifications and priorities as the town prepares to go to the polls on Tuesday, May 10.

Not surprisingly, economic development, which consumed much of the town's public discourse the last couple of years, was a focus of the hourlong forum telecast on the town's community access television station, WillINet.

Jane Patton currently chairs the Board of Selectmen. She is a local volunteer and is a partner in Hops & Vines and Pastaria NoCo.

Thomas' name has been tied to the topic of economic development since he chaired a yearlong ad hoc committee that studied the topic. He established early on that he was drawn to the Board of Selectmen because he wanted to make sure the recommendations of that committee had life after the panel's report.

But Thomas emphasized that he favors a balanced approach to growth.

"The Economic Development Committee report did not call for expansion of any business districts or see the need to jeopardize our natural assets in order to achieve economic growth," Thomas said. "I don't see it as a zero-sum game. The town needs to look at smart growth, infilling, utilization of existing property and so forth."

Patton, the current chairman of the board, agreed.

"I don't think this is an either/or scenario," she said. "If you try hard enough and keep going at it, you can find ways to make things work. ... Trying to find a way to preserve open space, I think, is wildly critical.

"I want to make sure I'm part of the group that creates opportunity and creates situations that make things possible. The most important thing for me is knowing that when my work here is done I have not shut any doors or closed off any channels to future growth for everyone in Williamstown today and, hopefully, folks who come back 50 years from now.

"Commerce might actually help conservation," she said later in the forum. "If the economic base is there and we attract people to the area, they'll love it as much as we do."

Both Thomas and Payne talked about the consequences of economic stagnation and how the town already is feeling the effects of a dwindling population and narrowing tax base.

"Williamstown used to be noted for our excellent schools," said Payne, who has lived in the town longer than either of her opponents, moving to town in 1988. "And they're still good schools, but they are no longer excellent schools. They've slowly carved away so many enrichment programs. The elementary school doesn't have a computer program, a Spanish program, a gifted and talented program. Side-By-Side is threatened.

Cynthia Payne is a 28-year resident and longtime volunteer, including with the PTO, First Congregational Church and  Williamstown Historical Museum.

"We need to have jobs, entrepreneurship, people working from home, new bakeries, new clothing stores, stores that will appeal to residents, not just tourists. A lot of us can remember when Spring Street had a grocery store and a bakery. There were things to go downtown for. What do you go downtown for now? Tunnel City, the post office and the bank."

Payne then advocated strongly for farming, finishing with a good-natured jab at transplanted Midwesterners Patton of Missouri and Thomas of Indiana.

"It's important to preserve open space … not just because it looks pretty," she said. "We're hoping to keep it there as possible agricultural development in the future. When I came to town, there were 12 dairy farms in town. Now I think there are two left.

"You Midwesterners with big dairy farms have cut the legs out from under our small dairy farmers. … I'm not blaming you personally for that."

"My people aren't farmers," Patton dryly offered in her "defense."

On a more serious note, Patton offered the strongest stance in favor of the Waubeeka Overlay District zoning bylaw that voters will consider at the May 17 annual town meeting.

As the candidates held their forum on April 27, the town's Planning Board was in the process of honing an amendment to the proposed Waubeeka bylaw, introduced on the annual town meeting warrant by citizens' petition. The overlay district would create the possibility of building a hotel at the golf course, a well loved but financially troubled business currently owned by North Adams' Michael Deep.

"I'm in favor of considering this option," Patton said. "I think if done mindfully with an eye toward preservation and open space, there's a way to do this where conservation wins, open space wins, commerce and growth win without anyone coming away overly 'scarred,' for want of a better term."

Patton said she believed in the special permit process that is built into the overlay district bylaw would create necessary checks on development, and when pressed by the questioner, Elisabeth Goodman, for a firm answer on her opinion about the town meeting vote, Patton was clear.

"I believe and hope the petitioner and the Planning Board will be able to come together and create something that can pass," Patton said. "I'm in favor of an amendment."

Thomas also reserved judgment until he saw the final product of the continuing Planning Board discussions but agreed with Patton that there is a potential for a win-win.

"My biggest concern is we lose the golf course and lose the 30-plus jobs that are there," Thomas said. "I think there is pretty good evidence from previous owners that it will be difficult to keep it there [as a golf-only operation]."

Payne said she thought Deep was looking for a bylaw that allowed too much development on the site.

"I think his idea of a large hotel, as opposed to the little country inn he originally proposed, is a problem," she said. "Currently, we have three hotels in town that are for sale. Why do we need more hotels in South Williamstown?

"It's one of the main gateways into town, and it's known for its bucolic beauty as you come in. A huge building project there is not what our town needs."

Jeffrey Thomas has served on the Community Preservation Committee and spent a year chairing the town's Economic Development Committee.

Resident Jean Vankin asked the candidate about a different local need: health care.

Vankin, who has petitioned the Board of Selectmen in the past to endorse resolutions calling for the restoration of a full hospital at the site of the former North Adams Regional Hospital, asked the candidates if they thought the board has the "power to advocate for reparation of some of the things we lost."

All of the candidates expressed their sympathy with Vankin's cause but none could offer a concrete solution that the town board could bring to the issue. Each noted that the availability of health care — either a hospital or primary care physicians — is driven by larger economic and geographic trends.

Payne, whose husband is a doctor, offered some personal insight on the subject.

"He ended up leaving Williamstown, and we've been doing the commuter marriage thing for 10 years," she said. "He works in Boston.

"It's hard to recruit doctors to a rural area. They don't pay as well, spouses can't find jobs. And when doctors get out of medical school, they are faced with crushing debt.

"The loss of the hospital is a crushing blow to our area."

When asked about the Board of Selectmen's role in the community, each of the the candidates talked about the importance of being responsive to residents.

Patton emphasized an open-door and inclusive approach that she has tried to continue as chair.

"Anyone who comes and has a reasonable request to the Select Board can be heard," she said. "In the three years I've been there, there has never been a time when something came up and we said, ‘We don't want to talk about it.' "

And neither Thomas nor Payne took advantage of a question that opened the door to criticize the current board.

"One of the most important things the Select Board can do is listen carefully and ask hard questions and be diligent and thoughtful and consider all perspectives," Thomas said. "You all do a pretty good job of that.

"I'm excited to be a candidate for Select Board," he added in his closing statement. "I think we can grow our economy and preserve the town's beauty. We can expand the tax base and avoid making painful cuts at Town Hall and in the schools. We can make needed improvements in infrastructure and ensure a vital future."

The town election is Tuesday, May 10; polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Williamstown Elementary School.

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