PETERSHAM – Michael Shamgochian is one of two candidates in the upcoming special election to fill a vacancy on Petersham’s Selectboard created by the resignation of Danny Stair earlier this year.
Shamgochian’s opponent in the race is Patric Gillespie. The winner will serve out the remainder of Stair’s term, which ends in April of 2027. Stair was elected to the board in a special election held last September following the resignation of Josh Cayea, who had been elected in the 2024 annual town election.
“I have spent much of my time in Petersham for most of my life,” Shamgochian said. “My uncle lives here, and I have another aunt and uncle who lived here. So, we’ve had this family connection to Petersham for many decades now.”
While living with his family in Petersham, Shamgochian attended high school at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School in Devens, graduating in 2000. He then attended Umass Amherst, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in the classics “which was a great experience. Then I went to Suffolk University Law School in Boston. I graduated from Suffolk and passed the Mass bar in 2007.”
Shamgochian explained that after graduating Suffolk, he had a part-time private law practice for a time. Most of the past 19 years, however, he has worked as a professor at Worcester State University teaching various subjects.
“My favorite thing to teach, believe it or not, is tax law,” he added. “So, I spend most of my time teaching law classes to business students. But I’ve also taught constitutional law, education law and political science.”
The candidate said his uncle, Jim Dowd, once served on the town’s Advisory Finance Committee.
“He was kind of the reason I thought it would be a good idea to get involved,” Shamgochian added.
Shamgochian said he learned the importance of community involvement while working on a case in which Sunpin Energy and Ralph Lapinkas, Jr., sued the town of Petersham after the Zoning Board denied a special permit to build a solar array on 14 acres of forested property owned by Lapinkas.
The state Land Court granted summary judgment for the town, but this was reversed on appeal. Shamgochian worked the case pro bono on behalf of the community. Despite the reversal, he said, the town was given “the opportunity to re-hear their permit.”
“What a journey that’s been,” he said. “I’ve learned a ton about the town.”
In addition to serving the town, said Shamgochian, he would like “the opportunity to continue my learning about things like municipal finance and the issues they’re facing in town. I know the two Selectboard members are both working on really interesting projects. For example, improving processes in the town for the residents and the taxpayers.
“But the most important thing is that the board needs a full compliment of people who are engaged,” he added. “So, I promise to serve out the term….it’s very important. We have so many great people in this town doing all kinds of really important things and they’re really unsung; they’re minding the store for everybody in town. So, I really look at them as role models.”
In addition to the contest for a seat on the Selectboard, voters will be asked to decide on two proposed Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusions. Polls will be at Town Hall, 1 South Main St,, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24.