Dave Drugmand: Finance Committee Chair, Green communities Chair and former Chair of the Parks Committee

When Yoga class met at the end of January in the Town Hall, the pounding on the roof was hard to ignore. Ladders and scaffolding were propped against the building’s east wall: Insulation work in the building’s ceilings was finally underway. Ultimately the effort will save the town money and the rooms will be warmer.

Dave Drugmand, chair of Washington’s Finance Committee for just over a year, and committee member for the past five, explained that the long-awaited work was being paid for by funds “cobbled together” by the Finance Committee, the Town Administrator and the Select Board: $40,000 appropriated at the May 2022 town meeting for FY ’23 and unspent until now, $5000 from a grant Town Administrator Sean Curran raised from the Massachusetts Insurance Association, $2000 from the American Rescue Plan Act, and $2500 from the FY ’24 Town Hall Repair account.

This of course is just a sample of the Finance Committee’s responsibilities. "Work is now coming together for this year’s Town Budget,” Dave explains, “Department heads have been shown what was spent in 2023 and asked how much is requested for fiscal ’24; spread sheets are getting filled in.”

“There are things coming up,” he adds. “One new expense we are considering is a new outlay for ambulance services. We have been covered by the County Ambulance Service as our primary ambulance service at no charge to the town since 2017. Unfortunately our agreement has not been renewed and the Town has had to look elsewhere, which is going to start to cost the town next year.”

Dave took over the chairmanship of the Finance Committee from Sean Connors who retired in June 2022 after nearly 30 years on the committee.  “I am learning a lot about municipal finance,” Dave says. “It’s a real balancing act to keep property taxes low. There’s always upward pressure. Things cost more, so keeping the burden low for taxpayers and still providing services; it’s a tricky thing.”

His work with the Finance Committee is not the only job Dave fills for the town. Since 2019 he has served as chairman of the Town’s Green Communities Committee. In 2019, then Select Board chair Jim Huber tapped Dave for the job of  reworking and resubmitting a second grant application to DOER, Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources., after the first one failed. It required identifying the work that could be done in the town municipal buildings to save energy and money, finding contractors to give estimates to cover the work and then filling out the forms for the state to justify the sum. The goal is to reduce energy use in town buildings and vehicles by 20 percent.

The eventual acceptance of the application Dave and his committee put together resulted in Washington being designated a Green Community; that allows the town to apply for Green Community grants totaling $126,500. With the help and expertise provided by Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, the Town’s application for initial grant funding will be submitted “any day now” according to Dave. With approval, the funds will cover work on energy efficient heating and cooling, and insulation for the Town Hall. Once the project is completed, the Green Committee can pinpoint other energy savings and apply for more grant funds.

The Energy Reduction Plan for the Town of Washington was adopted by the Select Board on July 18, 2022, and is available for perusal on the Town Website.

For many long time residents, Dave, at six-feet-plus with a grey pony tail and blue eyes, is a familiar towering figure with a quiet manner that belies his achievements.

In 1979, Dave came to the town to visit his college roommate, Dom Sacco. He was planning a week’s vacation after being out west, in Texas and Colorado— an interlude before heading to grad school at U Mass. It was New Years Day 1979. Dom had just finished the Barn renovation at Bucksteep, creating a place for drinks, music and dancing. The opening had taken place on New Years Eve—the night before. Outside, cross country ski trails beckoned. Dave never left.

Dave remembers the early ’80s as “ big community years.” Initially, work began on the Town Park. It had been an old junk yard acquired by the town. “We had many work parties cleaning up the site. Sybille Baier, a former resident, was the driving force with the vision for the design. She contributed funds and Heartwood Building School built the Gazebo, now a meeting place for musicians on summer afternoons.

“The Park began as a collaborative effort with the town of Becket,” Dave explains. “I was Washington’s delegate to the Becket Recreation Committee—they had the beach, we had the Park. Both towns put in money for some projects at both venues.”

Dave served “several stints” as chair of the Parks Commission, as did Ed Bond, and RJ Peltier. “ It wasn’t as formal; we all worked together.” When he was appointed to oversee the Green Communities projects, Dominic Sinopoli became chair of the Park.

Dave met his wife Tricia Drugmand (who more recently served two terms on the Select Board) when they both worked at Bucksteep. The cross country ski rental shop, the maintenance of the extensive grounds, the restaurant in the house serving lunch and dinner and festivities in the barn kept everyone busy. Dave and Tricia also kept a team of Suffolk Punch horses and later a pair of Percherons  and Norwegian Fjord horses that would often take visitors on haywagon rides in the October Mountain State Forest!

But when they were expecting a child and needed more space than their apartment at Bucksteep provided, the Drugmands bought the house at the top of the hill on Washington Mountain Road, a place, Dave says, Tricia had always admired. The horses boarded at first in the barn behind what is now the home of Kent and Carol Lew and would graze in the State Forest meadow. Dave’s construction business, Artisan Kitchen and Bath, grew and Tricia’s property management business, Second Home Solutions, would flourish.

Thinking back, Dave remembers, as others in town do: “There was Bucksteep, the Vagabond, Woody’s…People used to come here to listen to music and dance. On weekends the population in Washington would double!”

Perhaps our summer “Concerts in the Park”—at a place Dave helped create—is a step toward bringing even more music and community back to our town. 

Might You Want To Be On The Finance Committee?

By Carol Lew

Elections are coming up. Interested parties who want to run for town positions must take out nomination papers (Town Clerk Allison has them). You’d need to collect 20 signatures from town residents that are registered to vote and return the completed nomination papers to the Town Clerk by Friday, March 29.

Last month’s Tracks listed the six open positions, but let’s talk about one of them here. A two year unexpired term on the Finance Committee is vacant, and as of this writing, no one has taken out nomination papers for it.

Meg Megas, a member of the committee says this about the work; “You don’t have to have strong finance background. There’s training available, and a new member can learn from people on the committee. We think it works well to have people with a variety of perspectives in the group. It’s an important committee, especially this time of the year, budget season, when the work is more involved.”

Committee Chair Drugmund agrees with Meg’s assessment and adds: “It requires common sense and the desire to help the town contend with our economic realities. The commitment requires attending one committee meeting a month except during budget season (March and April) when we meet biweekly. There are occasionally other meetings with the Select Board throughout the year also.”