Please provide a brief biographical background on yourself. What should voters know about you?
Many have called me a “Local Government Nerd” – and it’s true. Soon after moving to Northborough I joined the Library Trustees and the Fire Station Building Committee. I participate at Town Meetings and many Board and Committee meetings. If you attended or watched the ARPA funding forum organized by the Northborough Guide, I helped interpret the ins and outs of rules for the $4M federal funds available to Northborough.
I’m originally from Framingham and have lived in the Metrowest and Worcester areas all my life. I met my wife Alysa when she lived in Westborough twenty years ago. Our daughter Ariella is a freshman at Algonquin, and Alana in sixth grade at Melican. By day I’m a software developer at an educational technology company.
Some know me the organizer for the new Menorah at December’s Tree Lighting. I recently finished terms on our Synagogue’s Board of Directors and as Treasurer. We’re members of the Northborough Historical Society, and I recently joined the Northborough Rotary. I also moderated the 2019 Candidate’s Night.
Why are you running?
Our Downtown has been neglected for decades, long in need of economic development action. Our lack of an Economic Development Committee is simply astounding. I know the new Master Plan recommends this, but so did the last two Master Plans. Downtown Economic Development must be a Board of Selectmen priority for it not to languish decades more.
We remain very far behind our neighbors on our lack of open government. The Board of Selectmen must view the Public as both its boss, and its customer. The Board should be far more inviting of the Public’s input, and responsive to its needs. We need to get more information online. This must be a Board of Selectmen initiative.
I served two terms each on the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and Financial Planning Committee in our former town. I learned the value of collaborating with and learning from nearby communities. I know how to find answers, and I know how get things done. I ask for your vote so I can bring my experience to our Board of Selectmen.
What specific skills/experience/expertise would you bring to your role?
I currently serve as Chair of the Municipal Code and Bylaw Committee, Vice Chair of the Library Trustees, and member of the Fire Station Building Committee.
Going back in time a bit, before moving here, I was very active in our former town’s government. This was in Douglas, just south of Worcester. I served two terms on the Board of Selectmen, two terms on the School Committee, served on two School Building Committees ten years apart (built two new schools and renovated a third), six years on the Cultural Council, six years on the Financial Planning Committee, eighteen years on the Cable Committee, and many more.
Before my current job, I owned a small software development business for 22 years. I spent several of those years very active in the Worcester and Blackstone Valley Chambers of Commerce, organizing networking events for other small business owners. Small businesses are crucial to any local economy, and along with residents and government one of the pillars of our community.
What do you see as three issues facing Northborough?
Downtown Redevelopment, Government Transparency, and Affordability for Seniors and Families.
How do you plan to address the issues identified facing Northborough?
I will propose an Economic Development Committee and a Downtown Economic Council of business owners. We will host a public meeting with legislators, key town employees, state Economic Development and Highway (Rt 20) officials to a planning session. The Board will meet quarterly with the Economic Development Committee as plans are developed.
I will present a comprehensive Transparency Plan, based on years of experience advocating for Open Government and how other towns proactively provide better access to their communities. This will include an Open Government bylaw, agenda format changes, and policies on providing information to the public.
I will reactivate the Housing Partnership Committee, which exists but has too few members to meet. It blends the Council on Aging, Housing Authority, Planning Board, and Selectmen. The charge will be to actively promote options for savings to our residents and provide the Board with recommendations. A goal is to find ways for seniors to remain in their existing homes whenever possible.
Are you in support of maintaining Northborough’s current single tax rate?
Yes
Please explain your stance on the previous question?
The tax responsibility should be shared equally among residents and business owners. While the concept of reducing residential taxes is tempting, one dollar in savings requires a five dollar increase on businesses. This is neither fair nor supportive of increasing our commercial/industrial tax base. The annual tax rate vote generates substantive community tension. To relieve this tension I will propose a firm policy stating the Town will maintain a single tax rate going forward, and remind all of this policy annually well in advance of the annual tax rate vote.
What are your thoughts on the topic of truck traffic in Northborough?
This is primarily a Planning Board issue. I support giving them the tools they need to resolve this issue. I would like to see the Board of Selectmen involved in discussions with any future warehouse or other facility that may generate substantial traffic pattern changes, so we can plan for highway maintenance and traffic considerations. We should meet annually with current businesses that generate substantial truck traffic to stay on the same page, and if necessary to hold them publicly accountable should agreements and bylaws not be upheld. Public safety is paramount to any related discussion.
The Master Plan Implementation Committee has been working on plans for the future of the downtown area. What is your vision/priorities for downtown Northborough?
I see a future downtown busy with Northborough and regional pedestrians walking along the Assabet river and enjoying food from our restaurants. I see expansion of the many small businesses downtown, retail and otherwise. I see major renovations and replacement of the many dilapidated buildings, now with cohesively-designed exteriors and expanded parking. We should be planning for a future where two of the four gas stations close due to increasing electric vehicle use, and how those properties can be best reused.
A new Economic Development Committee, together with the Board of Selectmen, should investigate successes and failures of similar communities then create and publish a specific downtown plan. Above all, the process must include substantial and continuous community feedback.
We are decades behind where we should be on downtown revitalization. This has been identified as a Town priority in three Master Plans over the past three decades. The Board of Selectmen must finally make this a stated goal and move this forward.
