ROWE — Citing the housing shortage, Paul McLatchy III announced he will not seek reelection to the town clerk position in May.

“I did not make this decision lightly as I love this town and love doing the job as town clerk. However, with an extremely limited amount of housing going on the market each year and in very high demand, I was simply unable to afford a home in Rowe and I needed to look elsewhere,” McLatchy wrote in the January edition of the Rowe Goal Post newsletter.

Because the town clerk position is elected, the person must live in town. With McLatchy’s move to North Adams, he becomes ineligible for the position, leaving it vacant in the upcoming election.

In an email, McLatchy reflected on his nearly four years in the position.

“I certainly learned that there is so much more behind the scenes during an election than most people realize.”

On Election Day in 2020, he recalled, he woke up for the job at 4 a.m. and did not get home until 1 a.m. the following morning. He said between the planning, setting up equipment, getting and processing applications, tracking ballots, calling people, processing payroll, holding early voting sessions, finding people to work, handling nomination and petition forms, and certifying results with the state, there is a lot to be done as town clerk.

In all the years he worked the polls, McLatchy said the 2020 election cycle was his hardest. Not only did he fill in for the Clarksburg clerk that election — a town with a population four times larger than Rowe’s — but he said it was increasingly difficult with quickly changing guidelines coming from the state.

“The issue wasn’t that the new requirements were hard to implement or bad concepts, but simply the fact that you could leave the office on a Friday thinking one thing and things would be completely different on Monday,” McLatchy wrote.

Despite the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic and changing expectations that year, the state clerks did a “damn good job,” he said.

With the VOTES Act, many clerks have had a difficult time keeping up with mail-in voting requirements. McLatchy said that because of Rowe’s small voting population of 317 registered voters, he was able to complete all voting requirements with help from the state’s pre-assembled packets, but was bogged down by requests for information in the most recent election.

With the time it takes to request and send information, McLatchy explained, “as a very part-time clerk, I found myself at Town Hall almost every night, which takes a toll considering I have a full-time job on top of this.” McLatchy also serves as town administrator in Ashfield.

McLatchy plans to move from Rowe to North Adams. He said with low taxes, people often keep summer homes in Rowe and home prices start at around $300,000.

“I would have loved to have stayed in Rowe where I have lived for all 32 years of my life, but I just knew it wasn’t going to happen,” he wrote.

He said it will be difficult finding a new town clerk due to the small pool of residents who get involved in town government. McLatchy believes the position may need to become an appointed role in the next five to 10 years, which would allow the applicant to live outside the town’s borders and would also open up applications to people who might have more appropriate skills and experience. He noted the job could become a full-time one by combining the position with another role.

As for advice for the next town clerk, he said, “never underestimate the value of a desktop scanner” as keeping records electronically drastically reduces the amount of filing the job entails.

“I have loved every minute I’ve lived in this town,” McLatchy said. “I have so many fond memories of going to school in Rowe, swimming at the lake, celebrating Old Home Day, working at Town Hall, (and) soup and game nights at the museum.”

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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