Voters in Athol and Royalston are getting ready to vote in special elections taking place over the next week.
On Thursday, Sept. 4, Royalston voters will decide the fate of three Proposition 2½ overrides, while in Athol, ballots will be cast on Monday, Sept. 8, to determine which of four candidates will fill a vacancy on the town’s Selectboard.
Queston 1 on Royalston’s ballot asks approval of a $173,000 override to fund the hiring of two full-time police officers, including one of them to serve as chief. The override was recommended by a Police Department Study Committee formed in the wake of last year’s defeat of an override seeking just over $74,000 for one full-time officer. The vote on that question ended in a 111-111 tie, sending the proposal to defeat.
Current Police Chief Curtis Deveneau has been advocating for some time that the town’s dependence solely on part-time officers was not meeting the needs of the town. Both he and the policing committee have pointed out the department has steadily lost personnel, from 18 officers in 2020 to just seven at present.
The loss in part-time officers has been attributed to training requirements enacted under the 2020 Massachusetts Police Reform Act which requires the same extensive training for part-timers as it does for full-time officers. Most part-time officers hold down other full-time jobs and are unable to commit to the increased hours of training now required.
Royalston’s Question 2 seeks just over $155,000 in new spending. Of that amount, just over $105,000 will be applied to the town’s general operating budget, while $50,000 will be used to meet Royalston’s $805,000 assessment for the Athol Royalston Regional School District budget.
Town officials have argued the override is needed to cover unexpected costs, including town bookkeeping errors discovered over the past year, as well as a $100,000 oil spill remediation bill. A handout printed by the town’s Finance Committee states: “We have reached the limits of what luck and creating accounting can cover.”
The third and final ballot question on the Royalston ballot asks for $85,000 to create the position of town administrator. At a recent informational meeting, members of the Selectboard said that, in the long run, the position would pay for itself by securing state and federal grant monies. Board chair Bill Chapman argued, “In the long term, passage of number three would help because there is so much money out there to be had. That’s what we need, someone who can go after those funds, who can help make us way healthier financially. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.”
On Monday, in Athol, voters have their choice of four candidates to fill a vacancy on the town’s Selectboard left by the resignation of Andy Sujdak in April. The candidates include Bill Chiasson, a former member of the board and long-time educator in the Athol Royalston Regional School District until his retirement several years ago; Jon Costa, who recently served on Athol’s Fire Department Personnel Study Committee and who was also a member of the Petersham Selectboard in the early 1980s; Jeffrey Raymond, a former Athol firefighter and who was the Republican Party nominee to challenge state Rep. Susannah Whipps in 2022 and 2024; and, Russell Raymond, the son of former board member Stephen Raymond, who served on the board for 15 years before deciding not to seek reelection this year.
Voting in Royalston this Thursday will take place at Town Hall, 13 On The Common, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Ballots in Athol will be cast on Monday at Town Hall, 584 Main Street, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.