LEYDEN — With longtime Selectboard member Bill Glabach opting not to seek reelection this year, a former member is looking to return to the board to fill his seat.

Erica Jensen, who was elected to a one-year term on the Selectboard in 2021, has thrown her hat in the ring for a three-year seat serving alongside Katherine DiMatteo and Glenn Caffery. She is running unopposed.

Polls will be open from noon to 8 p.m. at the Town Offices on Monday, June 26. There are no contested races on the ballot.

Jensen, 60, is a member of the Finance Committee. She also serves as co-emergency management director with David Pomerantz, but she plans to step down from this position if she gains the Selectboard seat.

Having moved to Leyden from New York City six years ago and having previously lived in San Francisco, Jensen feels she can bring a new perspective to the board. Her job as director of production at New York City’s R/GA advertising company is done remotely, and she feels her background could be an asset for ensuring the Selectboard keeps up with new technology, one of her many goals.

“I do think the big-city perspective and especially working still in New York has helped me kind of stay very forward-thinking, very progressive,” Jensen said. “It’s really kept my hand in, strangely enough, technology. … With all the changes in Massachusetts General Law, technology is playing a big part and I feel very prepared for that.”

Referring to Caffery and DiMatteo, Jensen said, “Between the three of us, we’ll have an amazing breadth of knowledge about how to do research, how to find the answers. A lot of the time, the answers are sitting there on your computer.”

Along with Leyden’s small community of about 700 people, Jensen said the open fields and nature inspired her to move from Brooklyn and serve the town — an element of Leyden she wants to preserve.

“I think that the openness and the natural beauty of Leyden is extremely important and it’s why people move here,” she said. “And the more people move here, the more you need housing — there is a juxtaposition there.”

If elected, Jensen said she hopes to grow the municipality’s revenue while avoiding housing projects that would detract from Leyden’s natural beauty. She also plans to help the Selectboard push lingering issues “over the finish line,” including formalizing town policies and procedures, and crafting job descriptions for town employees.

“In a small town, something new comes up every day, so those all have to be addressed while understanding that you’ve got to actually finish what you started,” Jensen said.

Other issues Jensen hopes to assist with include finalizing a long-term shared-policing agreement between Leyden and Bernardston, and rebuilding the Leyden Fire Department, which has struggled with membership.

As a former firefighter, Jensen said she has “a pretty strong opinion about how I’d like the Fire Department to be.” However, referring to the Public Safety Advisory Committee, Bernardston Police Chief James Palmeri and Fire Chief Nikolas Adamski, she added, “There’s some good minds there, and I think it’s just being in the background and helping where I can if they have any issues or concerns.”

Jensen also said she is committed to establishing “open direct communication” between town departments, committees and employees.

“I don’t really want to leave anyone out in the municipal government,” she said. “I want to act as one cohesive unit.”

Ballot question

Residents will also have the opportunity to vote on whether the town clerk position should be appointed rather than elected, as it is now.

The Selectboard originally brought the proposal to the 2022 Annual Town Meeting. The article to change the position to an appointed one passed unanimously, sending it on to the election ballot.

When explaining the proposed change to Town Meeting voters in 2022, Glabach said the switch would open the candidate pool to residents from outside of Leyden. He noted the difficulty in all professions trying to find willing, qualified candidates.

Similarly, when reached by phone this week, DiMatteo described the proposed change as a “professional move,” with the Selectboard’s goal being to appoint a town clerk with more skills, training and experience than might be possible through an election. She noted the Selectboard could also better hold the town clerk accountable through “more oversight” as compared to an elected position.

Other positions

The remaining positions on the ballot, which are all uncontested, are as follows:

■Assessor, three-year term — Bob DePalma.

■Planning Board, five-year term — Sarah Bartholomew.

■Board of Health, three-year term — Jerry Lund.

■Constable, three-year term — Gary Russell.

■Tree warden, one-year term — William Brooks.

■Library trustee, three-year term — Tom Raffensperger.

■Moderator, one-year term — Jack Golden.

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