I’m Roger Lawrence.

Many of you know me as the Guy With the Dog. That’s right: I’m the one with that big fluffy German Shepherd that waits politely at crosswalks and is friendly to everybody. My family moved to here in 1958. As a small child I walked across this town every day to the elementary schools that give School Street its name: the Mitchell School, the Grant School, and the Southworth School. They are gone now, but the values I learned early in them are not - values of community, honesty and respect.

I have lived and worked in many places around our country and across the world. But I have never seen another place like Williamstown. We have clean air and water, beautiful mountain views and world class institutions. But the best part of Williamstown is the people who call it home, from the academic thinkers to the folks who put the tires on your car. All of them are the best people I know.

Today Williamstown is changing at breakneck speed: more in the last five years than in the 50 years before that. I know because I have watched it. With rising home prices and property taxes our town, our residents and homeowners face challenges we have never seen before. But they are challenges I have seen before in other places. With my professional credentials, life and work experience, deep roots in Williamstown and commitment to home, I feel well positioned to participate with skilled and well-intentioned others to move our town forward in ways that benefit all of our people.