ORANGE — The Selectboard race in Monday’s election will feature four candidates competing for a pair of three-year seats.
Chair Thomas Smith and member Jane Peirce are running for reelection, and face challenges from Reid Jeffries Anderson Jr. and Kelli Bixby Gervais. Polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Orange Town Hall’s second-floor Ruth B. Smith Auditorium.
Thomas Smith
Smith had initially opted not to seek reelection, but changed his mind after he said he was flooded with messages from residents asking him to run for another term.
He was first elected to the Selectboard in March 2018, but resigned in January 2020 to take time to heal after the death of his sister. Smith was reelected that May and has been on the board ever since.
“I’m very much a people person and I’m not afraid to speak in public,” he said. “I love what I do.”
Smith, 61, said he wants to focus on bringing more businesses to Orange. He mentioned the town is working to repurpose the two-story, 37,533-square-foot former Butterfield School at 94 South Main St., which closed in 2015 due to declining enrollment and the town’s financial issues. Smith said he would love to see the building be renovated and turned into a senior center that also serves other functions.
He said he is the Selectboard’s liaison to the Fire Department, the public schools and the Town Hall.
“What sets me apart [from the other candidates] is that I always follow up on questions and inquiries that people have,” Smith said.
He grew up in Wayland and moved to Orange at least 20 years ago. He serves on the Orange Historical Society and works as the office manager at Witty’s Funeral Home.
Smith is also a bus driver for Swift River Bus Co.
“It’s a job that I very, very much enjoy,” he said.
Jane Peirce
Peirce is finishing her second consecutive term on the Selectboard, having served another two in the 1990s. She initially had no intention to run for a third straight term, but decided she wants to facilitate the town’s transition to the charter that voters adopted in January.
“I think that my familiarity with the municipal process is really important. I’ve been on one board or another since I was in college,” Peirce said. “I think I’m pretty good at being available to people and listening to them.”
She said another big focus will be the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District’s regional agreement and the subcommittee tasked with considering potential changes to it.
Peirce grew up in Orange and went to Ralph C. Mahar Regional School before attending Hampshire College, where she studied plant ecology. She also earned a master’s degree in resource management from Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire.
Peirce, 74, was a natural resource planner for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) for roughly five years before working for the state Department of Environmental Protection for about 19 years and then as a contractor for the agency for another six.
“I’m running for a third term because during the first two terms it became obvious to me that the change [from three] to five selectmen was not helpful,” she said. “It wasn’t harmful, but it didn’t solve anything.”
Peirce also mentioned she is delighted that there are four candidates running for two available seats.
“It’s absolutely fabulous,” she said.
Reid Jeffries Anderson Jr.
Anderson, 74, has never served on municipal boards or committees, and had no intention of doing so until the Special Town Meeting on Jan. 12, when residents voted to adopt the proposed town charter, which he adamantly supports.
“I had gotten my papers in order and had gotten my signatures in order to run, but had not made a decision,” he said. “Had it not been passed, then I probably would not be running.”
Anderson said he wants to help the charter come to fruition.
“Orange has had its problems, and with a new charter, some of these problems could be alleviated, or challenged,” he said.
Anderson said he grew up in the Washington D.C., area because his father worked for the Pentagon. He attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine and became a physical therapist from 1975 until his retirement in 2023. At one point, he owned The Body Shoppe Health and Fitness Center on High Street in Greenfield.
He lived in Greenfield from 1982 to 1995, when he moved into a house on Lake Mattawa.
Anderson also earned a Master of Business Administration from Western New England College and accrued managerial experience running a multi-million-dollar business.
“This is really a vital time to make sure that we are on a correct path,” he said.
Kelli Bixby Gervais
Gervais said she has always felt a need to give back to her community, and now that she is retired, she feels it is the right moment.
“I’m retired and I have time. I love this town and thought I had valuable input and insight,” she said.
Gervais, 62, said her family moved to Orange when she was 10 and she graduated from Mahar in 1982. She attended Bridgewater State College and got a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was then a teacher for 35 years, mostly in Orange, before retiring three years ago.
Gervais said she served as teachers union president and was on its grievance committee. She now sits on the Orange Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, and is a member of the Orange Revitalization Project.
“I love a project,” she said. “Anyone who knows me knows I love a project.”
Gervais said she would like to improve the culture within Town Hall and better the customer service. There is a high turnover rate among municipal employees and she aims to try to reverse that trend. She also wants to help beautify sections of Orange.
Gervais also said she is a skilled problem-solver and she likes to hear multiple perspectives.