Please provide a brief biographical background on yourself. What should voters know about you?
I’ve lived here in Southborough for 19 years now, raised my family here, and we have been very happy to make Southborough our home.
In recent years, I’ve worked to become a bigger part of the town, tried to increase my involvement, and tried to have a more positive impact on the town we all love. From scouting, through work with SOLF (Southborough Open Land Foundation) and the Town Stewardship Committee, I’ve seen the differences that so many individuals here in town have made through their hard work and dedication, and I’d love to continue to be a part of that.
Why are you running?
I’m running to help contribute to the town that my family and I have been a part of for so long. I want to give back, and contribute in the way I’ve seen so many others in town contribute with their time, efforts, and care. I believe my experience professionally and through work I’ve done locally have set me up to take the next step, and contribute the best of my ability as part of the Select Board.
In regards to recent action regarding the St. Mark’s Street park and regional dispatch center, how should citizen voices be integrated prior to Town Meeting?
I think we need to work on more engagement with people during the process leading up to town meeting. We should utilize resources where available to communicate earlier and more often. No one should still have open questions or unknowns about any aspect of a significant project by the time Town Meeting comes along. If there are questions people have that they haven’t been able to get answers to, the town hasn’t done its job.
A simple “frequently asked questions” site, with frequent additions and updates, could go along way towards keeping folks more involved, and more informed during the leadup to Town Meeting. Additionally, utilizing other town related sites to solicit community feedback would be helpful. The more we can involve the public before major decisions, the better decisions we can all make.
What are the lessons learned from the St. Mark’s Street park project? If elected, how should the board use these lessons moving forward?
I think enhanced transparency and communication during the process would have helped. There was a lack of information along the way, and that vacuum was often filled in with guesses and rumors.
We need to make sure that people are given the right facts and information on projects like this, and keep people informed. We have a town website – it should be utilized more often to communicate about ongoing, complicated projects like this one. All our voices in town should be heard, and those voices are best heard when they have the best information available to form their opinions.
What are the three biggest issues facing Southborough?
One key issue is transparency and communication. I believe many of our issues can be resolved with more frequent and open communication. Being transparent about what is going on, even in times when that information might not be fully positive, can go a long way towards helping us all work together, and make the best choices for our town.
Second, progress and development, in those areas that make sense like Route 9, are hampered by some of our town infrastructure and other issues. We need to reach out and work with local, regional, and state resources to help address this, so that we can support our commercial partners in those locations where they fit best.
And finally, conservation has been and should continue to be a priority. The reason we can be so centrally located, with major highways and access, but still feel like a quiet town, is due to our focus on open space, preservation of forests, natural land. While progress is important, we should never sacrifice what keeps this town the livable place that we all love.
