Residents will vote for one of two candidates for Road Commissioner in the town of Woolwich on November 6: Joseph Creamer and Jack Shaw. The Road Commissioner will serve a 3-year term.

Both candidates bring ample experience in road work to the job, but they each plan to manage Woolwich roads differently. It takes a person with the right knowledge and experience to maintain the 53 miles of town road. 

The job includes, but is not limited to: clearing the roadway of fallen tree limbs after storms; repairing washouts; re-paving and re-striping of paved roads; the grading of gravel roads; filling potholes and repairing sections of broken pavement.

Joseph Creamer

Joseph Creamer was born in Woolwich and, having moved back to the area after working for the City of Bath, would like to make some changes to the way town roads are managed. 

“I'd like to see double-yellow lines and also some white edging lines,” he said. He added he is concerned about how, along some areas of road, the edging drops off from the pavement. “If you pull over too far, you're in trouble.”

As Road Commissioner, Creamer would focus his attention on other tasks. He noticed areas where telephone poles are close to the road's edge; to address this issue, he said he would want to maintain a five foot shoulder.

Creamer also feels it is important to maintain good ditches.

“If you have good drainage, it keeps your road bed dry, keeps your hot top from being broken up,” he said.

He would also like to cut saplings that have begun to grow in the ditches. He said this would avoid the cost of paying a company to remove them later. 

“The big thing is,” he said, “right now all the work is done by the Road Commissioner. Maybe we should put some town work out to bid to get better prices.”

Creamer added that some other local towns have bidding programs that favor town budgets in more than one way. Contractors from those towns win the bids if their prices fall within 10 percent of the lowest bid price. 

“That way taxpayers keep the money in the town,” he said. “I think it's a fair way to do it. There's more than one contractor in this town.”

Creamer has 17 years’ experience working in road repair for the City of Bath. He had to run a budget and maintain city streets, signs, traffic lights, a snow plowing program and any hazard that came up.

“I just like working for communities,” he said. “I did it for the City of Bath and I'd like to do it for Woolwich.”

Jack Shaw

Jack Shaw has been the Road Commissioner for the town of Woolwich for the past 29 years and hopes residents will vote in favor for him to continue in his position. 

While some town officials are paid a small annual stipend for their contribution to the town, the Road Commissioner is unpaid. Shaw said he enjoys working on behalf of the town and provides other services outside of a standard management role.

Each season he works to make lasting improvements to the roads, such as replacing culverts and making sure the material he works with is the best quality. The quality of gravel he uses is certified by the Department of Transportation (DOT). Shaw also spends time meeting with DOT officials on behalf of Woolwich. 

As an example, Shaw said he was able to negotiate repair to the George Wright Road in 2008 when the DOT rerouted traffic there while working on the Route 1 bridge over Nequasset Brook. According to Shaw, the work, which came at no expense to the town, was worth approximately $300,000.

“That's one of the things I enjoy about the Road Commissioner's job,” he said.

Asked why he wants to continue to volunteer his time to town work, he said, “I enjoy doing it. I've been dealing with the same people my father dealt with for a long time.”

Shaw grew up on the Walker Road in Woolwich and he still lives there with his family, where he also operates his excavation business, Jack Shaw and Sons. 

He has continued the tradition passed on by his father and grandfather. Starting at age 12, Shaw learned how to drive a tractor and had his first job clearing out brush and shoveling sand for the road commissioner at the time. “It's my heritage; I've always worked in the earthwork business.”

Looking ahead 3 years into the future, Shaw does not foresee any problems for town roads. However, he said, “Paving is always a wild card, because you never know where the oil prices are going.”

Shaw said he tries to get the most paving work done for the best price possible as he works within the boundaries of the town's budget. His company has the equipment and resources to handle a number of issues affecting town roads. 

As Road Commissioner, Shaw manages the paving, roads and bridges accounts for the town and uses his company's resources to get the work accomplished. Snow removal is overseen by selectmen, whereby they decide which company will serve the town's interest at the best price.

“The system works very well,” Shaw said. “The way we do it, it seems to be a well-oiled machine. Every real dollar of the town's money goes to road work.”