Select Board candidate profile: Shawn McDonald

Shawn McDonald hopes to help seniors, town employees, and see the town’s many building projects to completion if he keeps his seat on the Select Board.

Although McDonald has been on the board for nine years, he said he is “still having fun.” He said that he wants to see the new library, police station, and harbor plan to completion, and stay on top of the town’s finances. 

“Financially, you always want to maintain a stability, make sure that the town’s bond rating is stable, and that the town still has the resources to do some of the work that they want to do,” McDonald said. “We also want to try to maintain staffing levels to make sure that the services that we provide are still there and can be [uninterrupted].”

McDonald wants to reassess the town’s health care plan for its employees.

“We’ve tried some different things but [we’re] still losing quality people to other municipalities because their healthcare share is a lot different than Dartmouth’s,” McDonald said. “It’s got to give us food for thought.”

Currently, McDonald said that the town pays for 52 percent of the cost of employees’ insurance while employees pay for 48 percent, while other towns pay more. He thinks it is time to bring in a third party to take a look at the town’s current plans to see if there are other high quality options at a lower price.

Another issue that McDonald is paying attention to is the growing senior population. He praised the Senior Center, although he said that it is understaffed.

“Everybody could use a lot more money, there’s just not a lot more money to go around,” McDonald said. “In the next few years, some significant decisions are going to have to be made.”

Looking forward, McDonald said that he would like to see a Rec Center, Civic Center, and for the town to purchase more land for municipal purposes.

McDonald, a property manager for apartments outside of Dartmouth, said that his approach to being a member of the Select Board is based on common sense and trying to make Dartmouth a little better every day.

“It’s how you treat people, it’s how you treat an event,” McDonald said. “And I think I have a proven record on how I do both, and I’m proud of that.”