ROYALSTON – One of the first to announce his candidacy in the Town Election is Chris Deveneau, running to fill the unexpired term of Selectboard member Shelby Bronnes, who announced her resignation earlier this year and attended her last board meeting on Feb. 18.

Deveneau, who serves on the town’s Finance Committee, told the Athol Daily News that improving communication between the Royalston’s government and its citizens is among his top priorities.

“There’s not enough communication and transparency in our local government,” he said. “There just isn’t. I’ve seen many Finance Committee meetings where there are a lot of questions being asked, and either we don’t have the information or it’s one of those things where we have no record of something.”

Deveneau said he recently attended a Selectboard meeting where he stressed the need for “some kind of broadcast system – even something simple like Zoom or Google Meet – something where people in town with young families have the ability to see a recording of a public meeting. Whether it’s Finance Committee, Selectboard – any type of public meeting should be available.”

Speaking specifically of the Finance Committee, Deveneau said, “There are a lot of discussions being held, but there are no minutes available. If you go to the town website to get a record of a meeting and it’s not there; you have an agenda there, but that’s it.”

Deveneau also said holding meetings via Zoom, for example, would allow individuals with families and young children to become more involved in municipal affairs. “Personally,” he said, “I’ve had to Zoom in or call into a meeting because my children are 4 and 6 years old now, and I’m hard-pressed to have my parents come watch them for two hours to go to the Town Hall on a Tuesday night for 7 o’clock.”

Deveneau added that improved communications would give voters a better chance to make informed decisions at town meetings.

“They should have already known about it so that they could think about their questions beforehand,” he said. “That lack of communication, because we don’t provide the minimal infrastructure for it, just doesn’t help you.”

Deveneau admitted he would experience a learning curve upon joining the Selectboard.

“I don’t believe I have all the answers,” he said. “But it’s your town, you’re elected to represent your town. You have to listen to the people, and hopefully more communication can happen, and better-informed decisions can be made.”

Another issue of import to Deveneau concerns the amount of back taxes owed to Royalston.

“It’s rather concerning,” he said. “What they’re doing to address that, I don’t think it’s working. We need to look at that and make an adjustment, because it’s not getting better, it’s just amounting to more. There’s no point in doing the same thing over and over again if it’s not working.”

Deveneau said it was revealed at a recent Finance Committee meeting that Royalston is owed around $700,000 in back taxes. That, he said, is according to the town’s Tax Collector Becky Krause-Hardie.

“We need fresh new ideas,” he added. “We need new people to look at the problems and hopefully, find some solutions. And we have to work together to find those solutions because what we’re doing now isn’t working.”

Deveneau is a lifelong resident of Royalston, where he resides with his two children – Alivia, 6, and Liam, 4. He is a 2007 graduate of the Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, where his concentration was culinary arts. Deveneau later earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Mount Wachusett Community College, and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from UMass Lowell. Town elections will be held in Athol and Royalston on April 7.

He works as a lieutenant for the Department of Corrections in the digital forensics lab. He volunteers with the Royalston Police Department, specializing in internet crimes against children, and sits on the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force. His father Curtis is chief of the Royalston Police.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.