ATHOL – Marc Maxwell, a 23-year resident of Athol, is one of four people who hope to win one of two three-year Selectboard seats in next month’s town elections.

Asked what motivated him to jump into local politics, Maxwell said, “Lately, with the state of local taxes, and they’re talking about a new school, I don’t think many people can afford a tax increase right now.”

Maxwell, 54, added that he hopes to see more voters show up at the polls this year, now that there’s an actual race for the Selectboard.

“I just think more people need to get involved with what’s going on in town. I think town government needs to engage more people,” he said. “It seems like a lot of things that have been voted on, you see it in the newspaper first and you never knew it was happening. A lot of people are getting their information second-, third-hand off of Facebook groups and everybody is at odds with each other. We need more actual involvement by and for the people in town government, across the board.”

Maxwell said more also needs to be done to address infrastructure-related issues.

“There’s a lot of maintenance to be done,” he added. “There’s more that needs to be done to get by with what we’ve got. Nobody wants to head off to work and go down a street with a lot of potholes. A lot of things that are wrong right now just comes down to maintenance.”

As an example, Maxwell said the Town Hall clock tower had been in bad shape “since I’ve been up here. That was all just maintenance. I know they got a grant to replace the clock tower, but what if they hadn’t? A lot of it is just plain and simple maintenance; you can’t keep putting it off. You have to do what you have to do. You can’t keep putting it off to the point where it costs four or fives times as much as it would have just to maintain it.”

Another reason for Maxwell running for the Selectboard is the housing situation in Athol. He said the Affordable Homes Act that was recently passed by the state should be something that the town aggressively pursues.

“The provision making it mandatory that any single-family property owner can build an accessory dwelling unit on their property could be a big boon for tax income for the town,” he said. “Taxes would be higher on those properties but the homeowner would be making money and it would help ease the housing situation and possibly bring down rent prices.”

This is Maxwell’s first foray into the world of local politics, and he seems to be enjoying it. When it came to collecting signatures on his nomination papers, he said, “It was pretty easy to get out and do it. I went down to Hannaford’s a few times and stood outside. A lot of time you’ll see somebody just turn away – they don’t want anything to do with it. But most of the signatures I got was just by walking up and down Main Street, going into the businesses and talking to people in the street. I was surprised at how many people weren’t registered to vote, or didn’t even know if they were registered to vote. Like I say, people need to be encouraged to get involved.”

Maxwell, originally of Swansboro, North Carolina, told the Athol Daily News he holds two associates degrees, one in automotive technology and another in architectural drafting.

“I started doing construction work,” he said, “and that’s how I ended up here, doing water and sewer work.”

After the Great Recession of 2007, Maxwell said he worked for a plastics manufacturer in Greenfield. He and his partner, along with her two children, live on Laurel Street. His family, he said, is fully behind his candidacy.

“They want to see some changes,” he said.

In addition to Maxell, candidates running for Selectboard include incumbent Kala Sue Fisher, newcomer Katalin Krieger, and former Selectboard and School Committee member Mitch Grosky.

The race for Selectboard will be the only contest on the ballot. Barring a write-candidate, incumbents Lee E. Chauvette and Tammy Lee Duquette will be re-elected to three-year terms as Athol’s representatives to the Athol Royalston Regional School Committee, and Laura Lynne Robinson will return as one of Royalston’s two representatives. No one has returned nomination papers seeking election as Royalston’s other member of the committee.

Also running unopposed are Board of Library Trustees incumbents Debra Bartlett Ellis and Margaret Ellis Feldman, and incumbent Constable Kevin Materas.

The town election will be held on Monday, April 7. Polls at Town Hall will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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