Please provide a brief biographical background on yourself. What should voters know about you?
I am a community advocate and volunteer, and am deeply committed to serving the community I love. I first moved to Shrewsbury in 2006, where my husband John and I are raising our three boys, ages 10, 8, and 5. I have led critical projects for the town’s schools, public safety, and social services. I have been a Town Meeting Member since 2018, and recently served as Campaign Chairperson of the ballot committee leading a grassroots effort advocating for the passage of an operational override to ensure appropriate funding for Shrewsbury’s municipal and education budgets. I serve on the Board of Directors to Shrewsbury Youth and Family Services, have been PTO President at Parker Road and Beal Schools since 2015, am a member of the Beal School Council, a committee member for Cub Scout Pack 114, and am a former volunteer with the Blackstone River Watershed Association.
Why are you running?
I am running for Selectman because I am passionate about ensuring that Shrewsbury remains a wonderful place for people to live, work, and retire happily. If elected, my priorities will include:
- Government that is transparent, open, and accessible
- Advocating for compassionate services including tax relief for seniors, to better support those who choose to live in Shrewsbury in their retirement, and to modernize our town’s social services to meet contemporary needs for all
- Growing our town’s economic base with responsible, sustainable development and removing roadblocks for small businesses to thrive in Shrewsbury, which in turn will relieve the tax burden on homeowners
- Improving our infrastructure by investing in our water resources, roads, parks, trails, and open space, and reducing our town’s carbon footprint
- Supporting strong schools and municipal services that are critical to maintaining the quality of life that we enjoy; careful planning is required to continue to provide high-quality services at a low cost to the taxpayer.
What specific skills/experience/expertise would you bring to your role?
I have found that I am a natural community organizer. I love connecting with neighbors and residents about what makes our town a great place to live, and about the challenges that people face. I am inspired by the power that residents can have when they band together; together, we can solve big problems and accomplish great things for our community. I know from first-hand experience, having led community efforts that were initially dismissed as “impossible.” I have always felt strongly that I have a responsibility to help keep Shrewsbury the community that I love; I have an obligation to contribute to that in whatever means I have at my disposal. My project management skills, together with my passion for community, motivate me to bring people together to find solutions to common problems.
What do you see as three issues facing Shrewsbury?
Social services: There are many young people, families, and seniors struggling in our community with affording and accessing compassionate and modern social services, including affordable housing, reliable transportation, mental health services, and recreational, social, and cultural opportunities.
Infrastructure: We must invest in our water resources, roads, parks, trails, and open space, and reduce our town’s carbon footprint. These are essential to supporting resident needs, protecting our natural resources, and preparing Shrewsbury for the future. There have been many improvements in recent years to the water system, but the lack of confidence in our local drinking water speaks to the need for greater communication and investment.
Accessible government: There can be a perception that there is a lack of communication from the town, and that decisions that are being made are not transparent. Residents need to feel connected to and informed about decision-making, and they need to feel that boards and commissions are open to them.
How do you plan to address the issues identified facing Shrewsbury?
Identifying and adopting tax relief for seniors and increasing the affordable housing stock is key. We need to modernize and invest in our town’s social services, creatively use existing spaces to offer programs for young people and seniors, invest in our public spaces to increase access, and increase cultural and recreational opportunities for all.
The town should explore requiring future development to make investments in our infrastructure and in the preservation of our natural environment. We must continue to improve our water system, including increased testing during droughts when water quality issues rise, systematically replace and update aging infrastructure, and communicate clearly to the community.
I will encourage and support people from diverse backgrounds to get involved in our town government, so that everyone feels represented in their community. Improving access to and communication from our elected officials across a variety of means to ensure that all residents are being reached will build confidence in our town.
With multiple residential and commercial projects on the horizon, how would you plan to manage current and future development in Shrewsbury?
Municipalities have limited means to stop growth, but can encourage smart, sustainable growth. We must address land use planning, transportation, and environmental protection. The town must prioritize meeting our state-mandated minimum affordable housing stock to block predatory development that is allowed to occur when we do not meet our mandated minimum. We must continue to identify and close loopholes in town bylaws to curb irresponsible development, utilize the Community Preservation funding to purchase land for preservation, revisit lot size minimums and density requirements, and reassess zoning. We must compel developers to make investments in our community, from traffic and roadway improvements to land preservation.
In light of recent increases to average tax bills, what is your perspective on the current tax burden on Shrewsbury residential property owners? What should the town do to support taxpayers?
Shrewsbury has a property tax rate below the state average, but that does not mean that the taxes are affordable for everyone. We can relieve that burden by expanding our town’s commercial tax base to bring relief to property owners who bear the vast majority of the tax burden for our town. We need to closely examine our zoning rules, work with landlords of existing, underutilized buildings, and have an open dialogue with business owners to identify and remove roadblocks for businesses to open and thrive here in our community. When COVID shut down restaurants in 2020, we saw hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue lost, which exacerbated the deficit we were facing. Seeing the influence of the meal tax to our revenue stream highlights the importance of bringing more business to our community. Communicating the available tax relief options for seniors and careful long term planning for improvements and investments in our community is critical to have minimal impact on taxpayers while still addressing issues in a timely manner.
What are your thoughts about recent efforts to revitalize Shrewsbury’s Town Center?
Our town center has many treasured features with our beautiful library, town common, and historic properties, but falls short of living up to the expectation of an active New England town center. Town Meeting recently voted to create a Town Center Zoning District to create a walkable, mixed-use town center. My vision for the Town Center is one in which residents can park once, and walk to a variety of businesses and recreation opportunities.
There are new investments and upgrades currently underway in the center, which will only serve to attract and inspire further investment. I applaud the efforts of the Town Center Association, which has been working with town departments, businesses, and building owners to revitalize properties, support small business owners, and bring cultural events to the center.
