Court Documents: Somerset Board of Selectman Candidate Holly McNamara has defaulted on $16,000 credit card debt

Candidate for Somerset Board of Selectman Holly McNamara is facing financial difficulties after she defaulted on two different creditors since the start of the year, with judgments totaling over $16,000.

Court documents obtained from Fall River District Court show McNamara, who announced her candidacy for Selectman earlier this month, failed to appear for two scheduled court hearings, one on January 26th, 2024, with American Express and one on February 20th, 2024, with Discover Bank. McNamara’s failure to appear resulted in judgment for both creditors by default. Fall River Reporter was at Fall River District Court and can confirm McNamara was not present for either hearing.

The American Express judgment totals $6,096.33 (which includes $150.00 in filing fees). The Discover Bank judgment totals $10,941.89 (which includes filing fees of $195.00).

McNamara seemed to defend her recent financial troubles on a Facebook posting, although she did not directly acknowledge the two recent court hearings that she did not attend.

Despite apparent financial issues, McNamara has been an employee of the Commonwealth for just over a year, working for the Department of Transportation. The salary for her civil engineer position is just over $120,000 per year according to the statewide payroll website.

McNamara was first elected to the Board of Selectman in 2016 and ran unopposed for a second term in 2019. Two days after Allen Smith was elected to the board in 2021, McNamara resigned from the board, a year before her term ended. The move resulted in the town holding a special election to fill the vacant seat, costing taxpayers almost $7,000.

That same year, McNamara sold her home at 78 Harrington Lane in Somerset for $611,000 after purchasing the home in 2015 for $440,000. According to paperwork filed when McNamara pulled papers to run for selectman this year, she now resides in an apartment in town.

McNamara is challenging incumbent Allen Smith for the three-year term on the Somerset Board of Selectman. Smith challenged previous Board of Selectman member David Berube for the open seat left by Steve Moniz who did not seek re-election in 2021. Smith won that race with a resounding 69% of the vote. Smith and McNamara submitted the required signatures to be on the ballot and will face off at the April 8th election.