Lenox — Being community minded, Selina Lamb, founder and owner of Birch Properties in Lenox, said she wanted to create an opportunity for residents to meet candidates vying for the town’s local governing board. And, with “a great location” on Main Street, the task was easy to organize.
“Over the last several years, we’ve seen so much good new energy come into the Berkshires, and it’s really important for people to get involved,” Lamb said.
On April 29, Lamb and Birch Properties hosted a “meet-and-greet” event featuring Lenox Select Board candidate Jared Weber, the only non-incumbent to step up for a place on the local dais that has three candidates declared for two open positions. On May 1, from 9:30 to 11 a.m., candidate and current Select Board Chair Ed Lane will be featured at the Birch office. 48 Main Street, Lenox.
As of press time, incumbent candidate Neal Maxymillian had not responded to Birch’s request to be the focus of a similar event.
Jared Weber: “People want to talk about Lenox”
For Weber, a newcomer to the campaign trail, the past three months have been spent trying to meet as many Lenox residents as possible. Most days, he s found camping out at Lenox Coffee. “They know me very well, they know my order very well,” he said of the local establishment.
His first foray into politics, Weber said he has probably met 500 people to date and “learned that people want to sit down and converse with their candidates and people want to talk about Lenox.”
“The recent activity—being willing to meet me for coffee—has been astounding, and that is inspiring: that people are interested in meeting their candidates and interested in conversing about what we see here, what exists here, what we have here, and what we want to see here,” he said. “And those conversations, in and of themselves, have been the most rewarding part of campaigning.”
Only a week away from Lenox’s May 6 election, Weber said his platform entails continuing to foster a culture of participatory governance in the town, amplifying the voices of those citizens he has met over the past few months, and finding opportunities of accessibility for those individuals to participate in town government. That platform includes increasing the local inventory of year-long one- and two-bedroom apartment rentals near or adjacent to downtown Lenox, he said. “Having year-long renters in or adjacent to the village will contribute to a thriving economic center,” he said.
Weber said he participates in the local rental market via an accessory-dwelling unit on his property, with that unit having served both long-term and short-term renters in the past. Weber said he believes full-time residents who own Lenox properties should have an opportunity to participate in the tourism industry with short-term rentals. However, he has met a number of people who grew up in Lenox, went away to college, and now, in their 20s, have returned to their parents’ homes to live or secured simple apartments in other towns because they were unable to find local units for rent.
“I think we would benefit from a significant increase in our inventory of [long-term housing] rentals, and I think the increase in our inventory would have some impact on correcting the short-term-rental economy that exists here,” Weber said, adding that the change would create more opportunities for people of all walks of life to be in-town renters.
He said he rented in Lenox when he was in his 20s and 30s, as well as in New York City, “where many individuals are working, contributing to the economy, and are not ready for home ownership.”
A headhunter by trade, Weber said he is tasked with understanding the needs of his clients and finding those individuals in the market who could possibly be suited for that role. “I’d like to bring that same skill set to Lenox, in terms of our boards and commissions, ensuring that our boards and commissions have robust and rotating participation,” Weber said. “I can create opportunities for accessibility to those boards and commissions that may currently be untapped.”
He said he was “disappointed” the Lenox Select Board’s meetings weren’t posted on the calendar page of the town’s website for the month of April as those meetings had been for preceding months, with other boards and commission meetings posted on the April calendar where residents look first for events. “It feels like a missed opportunity for participation to not post Select Board meetings on the town calendar,” Weber said. With a win next week, he said he would post those meetings on the town’s website calendar timely and well in advance to provide constituents with the opportunity to participate.
The Berkshire Edge confirmed with Town Administrator Christopher Ketchum that the meetings had been posted on the Select Board agenda section within the town website but not on its April calendar. The Lenox Select Board held meetings on April 10 and 24.
If elected, Weber defined his role on the dais as an “available, transparent, collaborative Select Board member,” adding that he would work hard and take the job seriously. “And, I would hope to do good things in Lenox, and I would hope to bring more people into the conversation so that we could work together to build the future here,” he said.
Weber’s candidate website can be found here.
Candidate events stem from a love of community activism
Lamb began her life in the Berkshires as a Lenox weekender, returning to the town following a move to Stockbridge. She raised her children in the area and said it was her activity in the local school system that provided the three-decade Berkshirite with “a real love” of community involvement.
Lamb cited the need for government officials to respond to local changes and younger people coming into Berkshire communities. A real estate agent, she said it is also very important “when we think about land use and redevelopment, that we have really thoughtful people in town government on board with what the future of each of these towns look like.”
For Lamb, the meet-and-greet events offer residents a very casual space to talk to the candidates and have a doughnut or two.
“May the best man win,” she said.
