PHILLIPSTON – Nicole Gough is running for a three-year term on the Selectboard after serving the final year of the unexpired term of Dan Sanden, who had resigned for personal reasons.

Gough is running against Richard Wilkins in the May 19 Town Election.

Gough told the Athol Daily News that she has learned a lot over the past year. She added she has been actively working on behalf of the residents of Phillipston and hopes to continue doing so.

“I set a lot of projects that I would like to continue,” said Gough. “I’ve developed great working relationships with our elected officials. I was able to help host (U.S. Representative) Jim McGovern’s town hall, and we had a huge turnout. I met with him and he’s agreed to help Phillipston, and the other small towns around as well, with budget issues and trying to generate revenue. (State) Sen. Durant has been wonderful as well. I have a great relationship with him and he’s helped us with several grants that we’ve received. And Rep. Whipps has been great. She’s been really helpful in educating me as she was a Selectboard member in Athol.”

Working with the federal and state officials, Gough said, “has been a real blessing because I know how important it is to reach across the aisle in small towns. It can’t be about what side you’re on; it has to be about what’s best for your residents.”

Gough said she has spent a great deal of time learning about her responsibilities as a member of the Selectboard.

“I was able to represent Phillipston at the Massachusetts Municipal Association convention in Boston,” she said. “That was a wonderful experience, and I learned so much. There was a lot to take in.”

In addition, she has attended a number of seminars related to municipal issues, including one that provided strategies for lower municipal insurance rates. Gough said she has gone on ride-alongs with members of the town’s police and highway departments and hopes to schedule one with the Fire Department.

“That helps me be able to help them and give them the support they need, and let them know we have their backs,” she said. ‘It also might give us a chance to anticipate problems before they arise. I can also help educate our residents on how great our departments really are. They do a great job for us.”

Fellow board members Bernie Malouin and Gerhard Fandreyer “have been absolutely wonderful. I realize just how blessed we are to have the board we currently have because they’ve been so helpful in showing me what I need to know, and also giving me the opportunity to stand on my own….They’ve really let me grow into the position and have been so supportive – everybody in town has.”

Gough said she’s been busy working on the town’s Memorial Day parade and upgrading Phillipston’s social media presence.

“We’ve started a Phillipston Mass Connect Facebook page and we’ve gotten over a hundred followers already and thousands of views,” she said. “It’s important because I’ve heard from residents that communication is lacking. We were lucky. We just got an IT grant that will hopefully help us move forward in the social media sphere and get our meetings on YouTube so our residents can be more informed.”

A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Gough attended Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, where she majored in fashion design, later switching to mass communications in her sophomore year. While in Lubbock, she met and married her husband, Trent. Family circumstances led the couple to relocate to Phillipston, where they have lived for the past two decades.

Phillipston’s Town Election will take place on Monday, May 19, with polls open at Town Hall from noon to 8 p.m.

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