Greenfield’s preliminary election will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 10. Voters will narrow the field for November’s city election in two races: mayor and at large City Council seats.

Below are the candidates’ responses to an online questionnaire from The Republican / MassLive — but first, some basics about the upcoming elections:

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10 at the Greenfield High School gymnasium.

A sample ballot for the preliminary election is available online

You can check your voter registration status online . It’s too late to register to vote in Tuesday’s preliminary election — but you have until Oct. 16 to register to vote in the November election.

Candidates for mayor

Brickett Allis

Age, street and employment: 38; Wells Street; Self Employed

Volunteer work: I have been a volunteer in many areas, I coached the GHS girl soccer program for many years, am a past president of the GHS Music Parents Assoc. I volunteer as the Deputy Director of Greenfield Emergency Management. I was a former member of the Greenfield Fire Department Call Force. among the my other volunteer activities I give time to my church, participated in this years harvest supper, the blues and barbecue festival and fundraising for the annual 4th of July fireworks.

Previous experience in local government: Currently I am the senior serving member of the City Council. Over my 19 years I have served as President, Vice President, Parliamentarian, member of every sub committee (chairperson of 3 out of 4 of them). Formerly I was the Chairperson of the mayors Capital Improvements Committee, Chairperson of the 2010 Charter Review Committee, and have been appointed by any different council presidents to numerous council adhoc committees.

Why are you running?

Greenfield is at a crossroad in this election. I am running because I know our government can be run more effectively and efficiently with good leadership, the leadership I have proven I can provide. With the knowledge I have gained by virtue of my 19 years in service to Greenfield I can and will put our community back on track. We must first stabilize our long term financial needs to allow for us to then work towards the things that we want. I am running because the community needs someone that will treat their hard-earned money as they would their own, I am that person. I have governed on our town and city council for over 19 years with critical thinking, honesty, integrity, transparency, and heartfelt love for our community. It will be my honor to continue to serve all the residents & taxpayers as your next Mayor of Greenfield!

What are the most important issues facing the city?

We have many complex issues facing our city, such as our high rate of poverty and homelessness and the opioid epidemic neither of which are unique to Greenfield. It would be a disservice to think we could solve them on our own. It will take broad collaboration and regional assets to truly solve these issues. Greenfield’s ""anti-business"" label from outside the community makes it difficult to attract new business and developers. These issues can only be truly solved after we address the single most important issue that we have complete control over, AFFORDABILITY! We know that Greenfield is a wonderful community, after all we live here. It is, however, very important to look at the underlying numbers. Metrically (as published in the 2018-19 Mass Municipal Directory) we are very near the bottom in our equalized valuation at 319 out of 351 communities in Massachusetts (EQV measures a communities ability to pay for things such as capital projects, services, city expenses, etc.). Furthermore, Greenfield ranks 230 out of 351 in average tax bill (as reported by the Mass Division of Local Services). This means that there is a very large gap between what we are asking our citizens to pay and what they can afford. I am committed to working toward solutions to poverty, homelessness, and drawing economic development However, we must first fix the underlying foundation issue of affordability and put ourselves on a firm financial footing before we will truly solve these very important issues.

What are your specific proposals for making Greenfield a better place for residents and businesses?

My campaign platform lays out specific plans on how to move forward on creating a more affordable place for all our citizens. Starting day one with the help of our competent and capable department heads I will undertake a comprehensive review of expenditures within each budget to identify the priorities and needs of the departments and that those needs are being met. I will then start the process to create new outside revenue that is not dependent on property tax revenue. These include: 1) Starting a comprehensive and collaborative process to implement an expansion to the Fire Department EMS service. The revenue needed to sustain the expansion including hiring staff acquiring new equipment and EMD training for dispatch personnel will be generated through this new service at no cost to the taxpayers. Further, and arguably even more important is that this will provide a safer work environment for our firefighter EMT’s and increased safety and security to our residents. 2) Implement the use of city ordinance tickets by the police department. This implementation will assure that 100% of the fines generated (from the enforcement we are already doing) will remain in Greenfield as opposed to only 50% of Massachusetts uniform citations. Simply by virtue of enacting this single change the same level of enforcement would double our revenue. This revenue could then be used to fill necessary vacant positions. 3) Begin a study of the transfer station to determine what, if any, revenue can be generated by opening the transfer station to commercial disposal of household and construction demolition materials. Exploring this option could be a way to subsidize our trash and recycling system as well as offer extended hours of operation to our residents. 4) I will have an “all ears” policy and create an open-door policy with all city employees to allow them to bring any ideas for revenue growth to the table, to ask questions, or offer constructive criticism of my ideas. Our employees are our biggest asset and they should feel comfortable collaborating on all ideas whether those ideas are implemented or not.

Sheila Gilmour

Age, street and employment: 37; High Street; UMass Amherst / Records and Registration

Volunteer work: Vice President of University Staff Association (Massachusetts Teachers Association), various community events (Firebird 5K, Stone Soup Café, Meals on Wheels, Winter Carnival, etc.).

Previous experience in local government: Greenfield City Council, Chair of Appointments and Ordinances

Why are you running?

I’m running for Mayor because Greenfield is ready for new leadership. As mayor, I will work with my neighbors to strengthen our community as we prepare for the future. We need to make smart investments in our infrastructure and find creative solutions to remain competitive in today’s economy. Greenfield should be leading the way in community development, including affordable housing, accessibility, and sustainable economic growth.

I began leading people in the military where I served for eight years as a Russian linguist and intelligence analyst. Later I was promoted and served on my commander's staff managing the Compliance Management Program where I evaluated programs for compliance with military and federal regulations and protected U.S. citizens from illegal search and seizure during military intelligence operations.

After leaving the military I went on to earn my master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration where I studied policy analysis, financial management, and a variety of social issues including education policy, homelessness, and poverty.

Greenfield deserves a leader who is responsive and approachable. I have the right mix of skills, experience, and values to help Greenfield thrive while maintaining our small-town charm.

What are the most important issues facing the city?

Many residents feel burdened by their property taxes. We all recognize that our costs increase every year to provide the same level of services, but the cost of living must remain affordable. I will ease the burden on residential taxpayers by expanding our tax base, promoting growth through density, and ensuring that all properties are assessed at regular intervals, so all taxpayers are treated fairly.

The opioid crisis is another issue that has had a dramatic impact on Greenfield. The Opioid Task Force is groundbreaking in their work, but the city needs to be a more active partner. We need a compassionate approach that promotes prevention and treats those in recovery with dignity so they can find and sustain the strength and fortitude they need. I will work with local stakeholders and legislators to secure state and federal funding to create an agency modeled after Boston’s Office of Recovery Services, which partners with local agencies to help those struggling with substance use disorder to connect to the appropriate resources.

Protecting the environment is a responsibility we all share, and we need to view all city projects through a lens of sustainability. Fighting climate change is already becoming a driving economic factor, providing solutions for the environment as well as decent jobs with good wages. By incentivizing green businesses focused on renewable energy and sustainability we can tackle these challenges while supporting emerging technologies and economic development.

What are your specific proposals for making Greenfield a better place for residents and businesses?

I will implement a transparent budgeting process that invites residents to weigh in with their priorities as we plan for the years ahead. Residents will be invited to discuss important issues facing our community and help identify solutions to the challenges we face.

I will work with department heads to ensure that our city employees have the equipment and resources they need to serve our residents. This includes modern vehicles for our DPW and Fire Department and a new fire station with room to grow into a modern public safety complex to house our Police Department and Dispatch in the next several years.

I will bring to bear my union experience to improve workplace morale, reduce turnover, and save the city money by avoiding costly labor relations disputes.

I am committed to funding our public schools and ensuring that every child in Greenfield receives the high-quality education they deserve and the skills they need to succeed as adults. I will work with the Superintendent and the School Committee to preserve arts and music, electives, and athletics to make sure we’re educating the whole child and not just teaching to the test.

We need to make improvements to our infrastructure with a special focus on accessibility, walkability, and visual appeal. By nurturing a welcoming downtown where residents and visitors enjoy spending their time, we can help our existing businesses flourish while attracting new ones.

I will promote tourism and outdoor recreation by investing in our Recreation Department and Community and Economic Development Office to better leverage the assets we already have. Open space, ball fields, a skating rink, tennis courts, and hiking trails can attract more people to visit Greenfield, especially if we highlight them and market ourselves as the Playful Community we are.

Our local artists bring life and vitality to our downtown and deserve to play a central role in our economic development plans. I will support our creative economy by investing Community Development Block Grant money, providing opportunities and outlets for makers to showcase their work at community events, and reevaluating licensure requirements to make sure we are not stifling activities we want to encourage.

I will work with local stakeholders, including the FRCOG and leaders in other communities in the Pioneer Valley to address economic development, agriculture, emergency management, public health, transportation, affordable housing, and other challenges that face our region.

Roxann Wedegartner

Street and employment: Hastings Street; Writer

Volunteer work: None

Previous experience in local government: Greenfield Planning Board, 16 years; 14 years as Chairwoman Greenfield School Committee, 6 years; 3 years Chairwoman

Why are you running?

I’m in this race for mayor of Greenfield because I intend to keep Greenfield moving forward. My twenty-plus years of municipal service to this city sets me apart from the other two candidates, and gives me the broad experience Greenfield needs in the leader of a city with a $51 million dollar budget and hundreds of employees. Serving on the Planning Board for 16 years allowed me to hear first-hand what businesses are looking for in Greenfield. Most of the economic and residential development that helped grow our tax base approved by the Planning Board during my tenure as Chairwoman continue to bring in millions of dollars of tax revenue. As Chairwoman of the Planning Board, I also directed the citizen-led creation of the Sustainable Master Plan, a living document that charts the future of Greenfield’s progress. Many of its recommendations are being implemented today from energy savings, to housing, to transportation, and infrastructure. Before serving on the Planning Board, I served on the Greenfield School Committee for six years, three years as Chairwoman. As Mayor, being a voting member of the School Committee, and understanding the education and funding issues will not be unfamiliar territory to me.

What are the most important issues facing the city?

My platform, which touches on many of our most important issues, is built on a clear-eyed, practical plan of:

jobs and balanced growth to attract businesses that we know are working here, such as small manufacturing; precision machining; agricultural and food production and distribution; tourism, entertainment and food service; and the creative economy. software engineering. Growing our tax base is how we stabilize our tax rate and ensure stronger revenue streams.

fiscal sustainability and accountability to better manage our municipal finances to ensure continued revenue and more efficient, sustainable spending of your tax dollars;

strong public schools to ensure that Greenfield is known for schools that attract new students and offer a curriculum to prepare students for work in the 21st Century and beyond;

open, responsive government that represents a renewed commitment within our city government to serving Greenfield citizens daily.

affordable housing forms an essential part of healthy, safe living and supports improved quality of life so we need to work together across all income levels to ensure Greenfield has attractive, affordable, and sustainable housing options that fit the demographic of our city.

What are your specific proposals for making Greenfield a better place for residents and businesses?

Jobs and Balanced Growth. The goal of my economic development program is to provide jobs that grow our tax base. It is focused on marketing to and encouraging small to mid-sized businesses that don't need a large campus on which to build their companies. We will develop and implement a full scale Greenfield marketing plan that focuses on attracting businesses compatible with our workforce and industry sectors, supporting and promoting Downtown as a cultural and services hub; and promoting our city as rich in abundant recreational experiences to attract tourists and promote business.

We can make changes to our zoning ordinance that enable our limited available land and buildings to be more attractive to a wider range of businesses and make small amendments to the various zones that broaden their uses to allow light manufacturing by right rather than by special permit.

Fiscal Sustainability. When it comes to spending the city’s tax dollars, we must do three things to prosper. 1) Provide for fiscal integrity through managing municipal finances wisely; 2) Plan our spending properly: to assure that the services we need to make our city work — police, fire, public infrastructure — are available today and in the future 3) Be publicly accountable for how we use our funds

Open, Responsive Government. I will set expectations for a renewed commitment to serving our citizens within our city hall and city departments. I will ensure that key departments that interact daily with the public, such as the Health Department, the Building Department, and others are adequately staffed to meet the demands and responsibilities of their work.

Affordable Housing. Create a permanent Mayoral appointed board of knowledgeable citizens, such as the current Greenfield Affordable Housing Task Force ( a temporary task force), to identify and address our city’s housing.

Strong Schools to Attract and Retain Students. I will work to create a climate of cooperation and collaboration among city hall, the town departments and our school department so that we can craft a realistic education budget that supports the School Departments goals.

We must rely on our partners in the state and federal legislatures to assist us in receiving major grants to fund our public projects. This includes our legislative delegations as well as the federal and state agencies, such as DHCD for housing and community development projects and MassWorks for infrastructure projects. They hold the purse strings.

Candidates for City Council, at large

Philip Elmer

Age, street and employment: 69; Chestnut Hill; Semi-retired magazine writer/editor (Time Magazine, Fortune)

Volunteer work: Newspaper Guild rep. for Time writers

Previous experience in local government: Mayor’s committee for Highland Park

What are the most important issues facing the council?

Greenfield’s greatest challenge is to grow its economy without paving over its charm. The best way I know to do that is to attract new jobs and new families — families that will send their children to our schools, spend their money on Main Street, eat at our restaurants, renovate their homes, share our tax burden and help lift all our ships. I have a plan for that (see below).The biggest challenge within the city council will be to put the past behind us, find common ground and move forward. With a new council and a new mayor, we can have a fresh start.

What are your specific proposals for making Greenfield a better place for residents and businesses?

Greenfield is sitting on a 21st century gold mine, thanks to an extension of an old rural electrification law that lets the town sell access to the fiber optic cable that runs up Route 91. Residents know it as GCET (which they may love or hate). But Greenfield also sells enterprises a special kind of high-speed internet access, one that offers the same bandwidth up to the “cloud” as it sells down — something highly valued by video producers, software developers and anyone else who works with extra-large computer files. Game developers have already started moving to Greenfield for the combination of great bandwidth, small-town living and a priceless natural setting. I propose we grow Greenfield’s economy — and its tax base — by rebranding it as the friendliest little city on the information highway.

Christine Forgey

Age, street and employment: 67; Barton Road; Retired

Volunteer work: None

Previous experience in local government: First Mayor of Greenfield, School Committee, Library Board of Trustees, worked for Greenfield for 12 years in City Clerk’s Office and as Assistant Town Accountant

What are the most important issues facing the council?

The Council needs to understand its role in the self-governance of our community and implement the opportunities provided in the Charter to better represent the people of Greenfield. There needs to a restoration of civility, political discourse, common sense and the ability to approach and solve problems with focus on the needs of the city.

What are your specific proposals for making Greenfield a better place for residents and businesses?

Charter report card. Establishing better communication/cooperation with the mayor’s office and the various boards to review and if necessary amend or replace master plans for economic development and job growth, marketing our community, educating our citizens on how government can and show be helpful to them including more public speaking opportunities at regular council meeting.

James Henry

Age, street and employment: 52; Pierce Street; Journalism Professor/Publisher

Volunteer work: Member of the Loyal Order of Moose, Guiding Star Grange, Knights of Columbus

Previous experience in local government: I was elected to the Greenfield Town Council, School Committee, and Charter Review Commission. I also worked for eight years as a municipal administrator for several area towns, and was appointed to many Greenfield boards, including the Council on Aging, Cable Advisory Commission, Planning Board, among others.

What are the most important issues facing the council?

Greenfield is a mature community, in the sense that there is not a lot of undeveloped land, so it is critical that we use the resources we have at our disposal to enhance the tax base, create jobs, but to do it in a way that is consistent with our community character. The council can, and should, consider amendments to the bylaws and zoning to encourage development of the available land, and encourage adaptive reuse of existing properties that are either vacant or underutilized.

What are your specific proposals for making Greenfield a better place for residents and businesses?

I recently learned that Greenfield has a fantastic economic develop resource that I believe we should use to the fullest extent possible. The upload speed that we have for our Internet infrastructure is as fast as the download speed, which means that businesses can transmit information out to the net as quickly as users can receive it. This is huge. Having this tool at our disposal would be attractive to businesses that use large amounts of bandwidth, and lends itself well toward luring technology based companies here. The jobs would be high-tech, good pay, and are green jobs. I could envision the potential for a future technology park, but in the short-run, such businesses do not need street-level storefronts, because they often do business online, so we could use second floor or basement spaces that traditionally are not as attractive as prime retail space on the ground level.

Terence P. Stigers

The candidate did not submit answers to the questionnaire. The Republican sent two messages to a campaign Facebook account, which did not list a phone number or other contact information. A phone number listed in the Whitepages carried a “not in service” message. A profile of the candidate appears on the website of The Greenfield Recorder: Q&A: At-Large City Council candidate Terence Stigers

Michael Terounzo

Age, street and employment: 37; Long Plain Road; Self-Employed Landscaper

Volunteer work: None

Previous experience in local government: None

What are the most important issues facing the council?

There are many questions regarding the infrastructure, tax burden, and the direction in which our city should proceed. These have included the library project, the public safety complex (with an immediate focus on the fire department), and the zoning issues in our eastern artery, as well as, the development of our downtown district. Some of these issues will be “decided” in the general election this November. Only time will tell what future issues will arise that will require the next city council’s judgment. I look forward to engaging those issues with a fresh set of eyes and no expectations, only a sharp and questioning mind. With some of the divisive issues I have seen arise, I feel it is necessary to bring a grounded stance and a view that has no partisan tie, rather one with an appreciation and respect for great variances in ideology. A respectful and amiable demeanor is essential to any council body.

What are your specific proposals for making Greenfield a better place for residents and businesses?

I want to work with some of the business coalitions and would be interested in creating, if necessary, other coalitions to help engage our business and commercial property owners in discussion about their needs and desires for further development. I believe a review of our zoning laws may be necessary to help establish a new baseline for further commercial development. I see our downtown as a viable entertainment district, and believe there is great room for more development. Regarding the niche/retail aspect, I would like to see the “hours of operation” extend past 5 pm. I believe we could benefit from a model that encourages safer bike traffic and “walkability”. I would like development on the upper floors of existing buildings or vertical additions to those buildings to create a more vibrant downtown population. Most importantly, I believe a solid investment in the sustainability of our school system is key. We need to ensure that not only the bare minimums, but the “extras” are funded as well. This model of support will ultimately lead to a more well-balanced youth that will grow up to create a better base in our workforce.