Promoting livability also means focusing on affordability.  As home values continue to climb in Wakefield, we must redouble our efforts to assure that our most vulnerable residents can remain in their homes, and that young people have the opportunity to put down roots here.  I worked with our legislative delegation to secure approval for our local senior property tax credit, and I will lead the effort to further ease the tax burden on Wakefield's seniors.  As your Town Councilor, I will promote the Town’s existing tax abatement programs and other benefits for veterans and individuals with disabilities.  Finally, I'm committed to finding new opportunities to help our residents facing financial challenges stay in their homes, including partnering with the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department to identify energy savings programs for seniors and other vulnerable residents.

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Economic development is critical to maintaining affordability in Wakefield.  Our community has over two million square feet in commercial real estate available for lease.  Our Community and Economic Development Director has worked with property owners to identify long-term commercial tenants for these properties, including innovative tax increment financing arrangements to attract companies in new emerging industries to Wakefield.  As commercial property values continue to fall in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, this is especially important to maintaining our commercial tax base and reducing our reliance on residential property taxes. 

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2.     Promoting Openness and Good Government

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Town government is the purest form of democracy — through Town Meeting, all citizens can participate in making the decisions that will shape Wakefield’s future.  But too often, it’s difficult for residents to find information about the key issues facing our town.  Town government should strive to always operate in an open and professional manner.  As your Town Councilor, I'm focusing on improving resident communication, assuring that we follow recognized best practices in every aspect of town operations, and giving residents a voice in town government.

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As your Town Councilor, I led Wakefield's Vision 2030 effort, an initiative to develop a community-wide vision statement.  Through the participation of hundreds of Wakefield residents and business owners, we identified a series of "common ground" goals that can help guide future policy, budget, and development decisions.  To assure that we continue working towards the goals identified in the vision statement, we must refresh Wakefield's master plan and housing production plan.  We also must assure that the goals identified through the Vision 2030 effort cascade to all Town departments.  As your Town Councilor, I led the development of a new goal setting and performance management process for the Town Administrator, and I'm continuing to work with Town departments to assure that there is a mechanism to conduct regular performance reviews for all employees.  

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I believe that the Town Council has a critical role in promoting better communication from our government.  As your Town Councilor, I publish summaries of all of our Town Council meetings, and I have held office hours every month since I was first elected.  I have advocated for improvements to the Town’s website and Facebook page so that information is posted in a more timely and complete way, and that content is clearly indexed and easily searchable.  These improvements have included the construction project dashboard that is maintained on the Town's website.  I also have advocated for other avenues for communicating with residents, such as the inclusion of information in utility bills and the use of the reverse 911 system to notify residents of key town events and meetings.  Finally, I have promoted the development of a standardized and consistent process for soliciting citizen volunteers for Town boards and committees so that we can recruit a broader and more diverse group of participants.  

 

The Town must adhere to a professional hiring process for all significant vacancies in town government.  As a parent, I served on the interview committee that selected a new Walton School principal in 2017.  That process included an opportunity for parents and teachers to share their feedback about what they wanted to see in a new principal, a defined recruitment committee and formal interview process, and a public job posting that allowed us to attract highly qualified candidates from inside and outside the district.  As your Town Councilor, I have worked to make sure that Town government follows a similar process to fill critical jobs.

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Maintaining best practices in budgeting and financial management is another critical component of effective government in Wakefield.  As your Town Councilor, I worked to revise and expand our financial policies to establish objective criteria for setting property tax rates that balance fiscal sustainability with predictability for taxpayers.  These policies have helped Wakefield maintain its AAA bond rating, which has generated significant interest savings for our community on borrowing for capital projects.  Through my involvement with the Massachusetts Municipal Association's Fiscal Policy Committee, I also have had the opportunity to observe financial best practices from other cities and towns in the Commonwealth, and to partner with the Town Administrator to implement these practices in Wakefield.

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3.  Investing in Wakefield's Future

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Improving the quality of life in Wakefield requires that the Town effectively maintain and enhance its public infrastructure.  As your Town Councilor, I'm working to assure that Wakefield develops long term plans to continually invest in our community resources so that we can effectively serve the needs of Wakefield’s residents now and in the future.

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Fortunately, most of Wakefield's public buildings and facilities are in excellent condition.  The Lucius Beebe Memorial Library is the envy of our surrounding communities, as is our newly-renovated and expanded Public Safety Building and the recently-constructed Galvin Middle School.  I was proud to be one of the Town Council's leading proponents for a new Wakefield Memorial High School, and was gratified when our community supported this critical project by an overwhelming majority.  I have served as the Town Council's liaison to the Permanent Building Committee as construction has gotten underway, and am committed to ensuring that this project is completed on-time and on-budget.  As your Town Councilor, I also advocated strongly for using federal grant funds to renovate the upper floors of Wakefield's Senior Center, creating more accessible space for multi-generational programming that will benefit seniors and all Wakefield residents.

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As the high school project nears completion, we must start planning for needed facility improvements that will emerge in the coming years.  While most of Wakefield's elementary schools have been constructed or renovated in recent years, improvements are needed at the Greenwood and Doyle Schools to improve accessibility and expand capacity.  Plans for the Greenwood School should include special consideration for historic character of the building, which is one of Wakefield's oldest public facilities and a landmark in the Greenwood neighborhood.  We also need to develop a plan for renovation of the Public Works garage on North Avenue to ensure that Town employees have a safe and efficient facility in which to work on behalf of Wakefield's residents.

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Underinvestment has played a part in the deterioration of Wakefield’s roads and sidewalks.  I have supported increasing funding for road maintenance and resurfacing for the last several years, including the creation of Wakefield's strategic road repair program that is targeting $10 million of funds to improve the conditions of Wakefield's roads.  As your Town Councilor, I continue to work with the Department of Public Works to develop long-term plans for road maintenance and communicating repair priorities with residents.  In addition, we must do more to improve Wakefield's sidewalk network, by repairing broken sidewalks, making accessibility upgrades, and expanding sidewalks to streets that currently lack them.  I continue to advocate strongly for using existing federal funds and pursuing new grant opportunities to enhance Wakefield's sidewalk network, and I helped to develop Wakefield's Bike and Pedestrian Plan to guide future improvements.  All of these efforts are critical to making sure that Wakefield is a safe place for all residents to walk, run, bike, or drive.

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