Lars Johnson, a candidate for selectman, has been a resident of Whitman for 23 years.

Johnson decided to run because he believes town government, with its simplicity, must be preserved by those elected.

Lars Johnson has been involved with the Historical Commission, the Town Republican Committee and the Centennial Committee.

“People just feel like they lost touch, so I’m running on integrity. I’m trying to be the spokesperson for the residents of the town of Whitman so they feel they have a voice again,” he said.

Johnson believes the biggest challenge Whitman faces right now is the budget. He wants the budget to be tight and proportional.

“Capitol improvements are great but when you’re talking a tax for over 20 years on bonds and real estate increases, it’s not for everyone.”

He is for improvements overall but is worried the town is lining up projects one after another. He feels there is a great deal of juggling going on between what’s going to go where and what’s next. Instead of new buildings he would like to see more repairs done.

“We just can’t spend what we don’t have,” Johnson said. “We have to be frugal, we have to be cost efficient. We have to have the right people in every tier on the town government, so every penny is put to good use. We can’t make mistakes which cost the town money.”

“It’s like a horse behind a cart … we need the right sequence,” he said when talking about projects.

He believes the Holt demolition project turned out to be a “catastrophe.”

Johnson said eight years ago the town had an estimate for demolishing the building and it was between $800,000 to a million dollars.  They didn’t proceed then, so everyone should have been aware of the cost.

The contract should have been worded so anything found could be added on, he said.

“The total cost was five times the estimate. It’s terrible,” he said. “We can’t keep operating this way.”

“It’s important to know that the town is getting qualified people. We should have references for people bidding on the job. The town should also stay on top of contractors making sure what is done is what the town paid for and asked for,” he explained. Johnson understands the bidding process and knows how to bid and how they’re coordinated.

“It seems the contract was left open and had loop holes,” he said. “To hold the consultants responsible sounds good, but litigation would be held up for years –– who pays?”

Johnson said a lot of residents feel they have no say in the projects and they haven’t been asked what they want or the sequence they want.

Johnson does feel there is a lot of good in the town. He believes Whitman has a superb police force, fire force, and DPW.

“The town offers a lot to people,” he said. We try to take care of elderly seniors, DPW, roads…We also have an outstanding park and historical buildings.”

Whitman doesn’t have the real estate or square footage for business, but it can bring in revenue with quaint little stores, Johnson said. “Small businesses are good, but can only generate so much money.”

“It is a hard problem … you can’t keep having taxes go up. That is the biggest key to everything.”