Adams Select Board skips special election, saves $6,000 with four-member board

ADAMS -- May 20, 2026, Adams Select Board votes to leave vacant fifth seat open until May 2027. The four-member board, down one after the May 5 resignation of John Duval, rejected calling a special election Wednesday, citing an estimated $6,000 cost to fill a seat with only nine months remaining on its term. Town Clerk Haley Meswab said the earliest a special election could be held was approximately August 3, in a year already scheduled for a September primary and November state election. The board voted unanimously to defer the seat to the 2027 annual town election, though state law allows 200 registered voters to demand a special election by written petition. In other action, the board approved $8,000 from a roughly $84,000 Women's Suffrage Celebration reserve fund for the Adams 250th Celebration Committee, which is planning a free July 18 event at Greylock Glen featuring a reading of the Declaration of Independence and a 13-gun salute, with one board member abstaining. The board also accepted a Finance Committee endorsement of a $21,433,291 fiscal year 2027 operating budget ahead of warrant signing next week.