For Jared Chadwick, a career firefighter and paramedic, the town’s public services are the most important issue facing the town. 

“One of the biggest things that I’m seeing is the lack of public services: our EMS system is understaffed and underequipped, along with our police department,” Chadwick said. “For a town that runs over 5,000 EMS runs a year, we only have two ambulances, which results in multiple calls for mutual aid.”

Chadwick said that the town’s medical staff are underpaid, so the town struggles to hold onto more experienced staffers. 

Currently, the town has two fully staffed ambulances. Chadwick said he’d like to see the town staff an additional ambulance. 

“I would like to see a recreational department brought back to the town to maintain the parks and beaches,” Chadwick said, adding that he has found nip bottles and needles at parks in town.

He also said he hopes to see the town turn its focus to cleaning up East Wareham and Onset. 

“Onset’s the jewel of Wareham, and honestly, the beaches, the culture, the history — it’s beautiful,” Chadwick said. “We should be sinking a lot of attention into that. We need to promote that.” 

He’d also like the town to work to attract small businesses, including by offering them the tax breaks often given to large corporations. 

“I’d like to see Wareham more oriented toward the mom and pop businesses and let them thrive,” Chadwick said, noting that small businesses tend to invest back into the community. 

He said that one of his biggest goals, if elected, is to keep an open-door policy and bring the issues he’s facing to the people for input. 

“The decisions aren’t for me to make alone,” he said. Chadwick said he plans to follow in the footsteps of his father — a former Selectman on Nantucket — by hosting “bench talks.” He’d find a bench in town where residents could swing by and chat. 

Another priority for Chadwick, who also serves as the president of the Wareham Tigers, is supporting youth programming. He’s also a supporter of more help for elderly residents, he said. Chadwick said that 90% of the calls he responds to as a paramedic in Dennis and Marion are to elderly people — sometimes for a task as seemingly small as changing a lightbulb. 

“Whether I win or lose, I’m bringing a lot of valid points to light,” Chadwick said. “I just hope that anyone else that gets elected keeps on going with them.”

For more about Chadwick, search for “Jared Chadwick for Selectman” on Facebook.