Meet Select Board candidate Joseph Still

Joseph Still said he wanted to run for a seat on the Select Board when he graduated from high school at 18-years-old. Now, at 23, his name is on the ballot.

“I believe the town needs a young fresh perspective from someone who is experienced in town politics and would like to grow with the future of Wareham,” Still said.

He has served on the Conservation Commission for two years and recently has been leading street clean ups around town. His work as a real-estate agent has familiarized him with housing and development in his hometown of Wareham.

Still is a proponent of more single-family housing and “fixing up” existing homes as well as building accessory dwelling units, commonly known as ADUs or in-law apartments, which are small additional residences built on properties zoned single-family.

He said he’s glad town officials are working on restrictions for the units that will prevent corporations from owning and renting them on a short-term basis.

“I understand the money that's in all of this and I know those developers have those greedy eyes and they’re thinking, ‘oh wow we can just come into Wareham and level it all and build houses,’” Still said.

Massachusetts legislators have pushed for large-scale solar development across the state. In Wareham that often means clearing trees and constructing solar arrays on large swathes of land. 

In a similar vein, Still is opposed to large-scale solar development.

“I want to see less solar development. Solar fields, heck no, get them out of Wareham, we don’t want them, nobody wants them. Unfortunately the state is shoving them down our throats, we can only do so much as municipal government,” he said.

Instead of solar development, Still would like to see more commercial businesses and a revitalization of Main Street.

“Let’s fill the vacant buildings, the ones that have been sitting here as long as I’ve been alive,” Still said of the vacant store fronts in town.

To market Wareham to potential businesses, he said he’d like to see more community events.

“I love the parades we do, I think in the last couple years they’ve slowed down, probably because the town doesn’t have money,” he said. If he could bring back the Swan Festival, he said he would.

The biggest problem Still sees with town government is the budget — particularly an imbalance between revenue generation and spending on schools.

“We’re making money on taxes, as a town should be, but we’re still operating over budget by spending on schools that don’t seem to be getting to the finish line of where we want them to be,” he said.

Although he attended Wareham Middle School, he chose to go to Upper Cape Regional Technical High School because, “Wareham High School is considered not a great school.”

“I don’t know what is happening over there, but it doesn’t seem to be working,” he said.

Still said he’d like to see the town explore additional revenue sources and increase collaboration between existing businesses and town government.

He’d also like Wareham to have its own community sports complex, something he’s been working on with Select Board incumbent Jared Chadwick.

“It’s not something that can easily be done but that would be huge, absolutely huge,” he said. “Why can’t we get everyone who does sports a very nice sports complex?”

For more information on his campaign find Joey Still on Facebook or contact him at joestillcampaignselectman@gmail.com.