Grafton Select Board candidates: Donna Stock

It’s a Saturday and Donna Stock is preparing herself to walk around Grafton, knocking on doors.

It’s not the way she planned to spend her fall. But the sudden resignation of Select Board Chairman Bruce Spinney to pursue a retail marijuana host agreement with the town left a vacancy, an Oct. 29 special election, and a seven-month term that will require the newest board member to stand up for election again in May 2020.

And that is how October became Knocktober for Stock.

“I went to the Disabilities Commission meeting and I was appointed,” Stock said. “While I was getting sworn in at the town clerk’s office, I realized no one had pulled papers for the open seat yet — so I decided to do it.”

Stock isn’t exactly a stranger to Grafton politics. She served on the School Committee for a decade, a tenure that was marked by a failed attempt at a new middle school, the construction of Grafton Elementary School (now the Millbury Street Elementary School), and the successful fight to build the new Grafton High School. In addition to serving on those building committees, she also served on the superintendent search committee that resulted in the hiring of Jay Cummings.

“I want people working for the best interest of the town,” she said of the Select Board. “I consider that our major role.”

Stock is a 31-year resident of the town of Grafton, and her four children are all products of the Grafton school system. She has spent the past 35 years working for non-profits as a fundraiser and has spent the past 14 years at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she is the assistant vice president of university advancement.

As she walks from door-to-door, or even as she just grabs a few groceries at Stop & Shop, Stock has been fielding a number of questions from voters. Number one on the list: the multiple retail marijuana businesses that hope to open shop in Grafton.

“We have four or five of them working through the process, but they’re not all going to get through,” she said. “Marijuana is now legalized. it will bring in tax revenue, which we need.”

The town needs to bring in new business, but it needs to do it wisely.

“I want Grafton to retain its character,” she said. “We don’t want 100 percent build-out like Shrewsbury. But we also need a tax base.

“I think we do a great job of shopping small in Grafton,” she added. “I’m glad there’s support for that — these are our neighbors, these are people who are trying to make a business in our community.”

Voters have also noticed a schism in the Select Board, one that Stock believes can be adjusted by training and guidance similar to that given to school committees.

“I’d like to see us come up with our own guidebook,” she said. “I think we need to define what space we need to accomplish our work, and how we can do this together. If we’re not working for the best interests of the town, we’re working for our own self-interest.”

Stock noted that she’s already familiar with how the schools’ budget works. She’s looking forward to looking closer at the other departments.

“I’m trying to say I’m a blank slate,” Stock said. “I haven’t worked with many of the town departments, but I’m eager to learn.