Gallerani planning the town's future
Published on March 10th, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - While you might find Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville license plates, ten pound stacks of documents scattered about his office floor, and inspirational quotes scrawled in magic marker on a white board, you'll never find a crystal ball in Michael Gallerani's basement office.
Nonetheless, as the town's Community Developer, glimpsing into the future is Gallerani's business.
"I'm always looking ahead and thinking beyond. I'm always thinking about what's next," said Gallerani of his job responsibilities.
"My two years that I've been here, I think that I've been pretty much challenged to define what the office does. Is it community development, is it economic development, is it planning, or is it some hybrid of the three? I think the latter is true," the town planner added.
Although Town Administrator David Berry proposed implementing a net cut of $9946 from Gallerani's $95,454 budget, the future of the Community Development office has hung suspended in limbo ever since the Board of Selectmen suggested last November that his department could face complete elimination in FY05.
And with none of the Selectmen happy about Berry's proposed budget and at least two board members listing the Community Development office as a potential victim of FY05 department reductions, Gallerani's office might very well become extinct after the Selectmen implement their department reductions this Wednesday night.
"It's nice to have a planner. It's a plus for the town no doubt about it. But if you can't afford it, you can't afford it," remarked Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello, characterizing Gallerani's work performance over the past two years as "excellent".
"We just haven't got the money. We have to cut $2 million this year. In doing that, you try to preserve the core services like Police, Fire and DPW," Ciccarello added, who along with Selectman Charlie Smith has proposed eliminating the Community Development office.
Yet, while Gallerani understands that depth and nature of the town's $4.3 million deficit and the need for cuts, he defended his office's functions, claiming they are pivotal for realizing future revenue sources for the town in the form of both private investments and grant programs.
"[Eliminating my office] would definitely put Stoneham at a competitive disadvantage. In terms of grants, the state not only likes to have an idea of community, but you really have to forge strong relationships with people," said Gallerani.
"I disagree that you could do without this function. The nature of it is people will do some of the things that need to be done, but in the long-term, it can't happen. It's like asking the police to be firefighters," the town planner argued.
According to Gallerani, one of his office's primary responsibilities focuses on bringing new business and investment opportunities into the town.
Attempting to outline what he terms intelligent growth, the community developer looks at the various residential, commercial and industrial areas of Stoneham as separate pieces of a puzzle that should ultimately mesh together cohesively.
Working for the past 18 months to formulate a master business plan for Stoneham that identifies its public and private growth goals for the future, Gallerani believes that the town's residential nature coupled with its lack of available space for large-scale private development makes Stoneham an excellent place for fostering a lively creative industries community.
"I think by its very nature, Stoneham is always going to be like that [mainly residential]. So the challenge is how do you bring in revenue to a community that's mostly residential? How do you take a community that's nearly 100 percent build out and make decisions that keeps people wanting to live here and able to afford to live here?" Gallerani commented.
"I believe this community has the potential to become a creative industries community because the creative industries don't require a lot of space. So you can infill on second and third floors of space," Gallerani added, saying that artist galleries, furniture makers, and graphic design firms all make up the industry. As a first step in achieving that goal, Gallerani recently applied for and received a small business grant that will allow Stoneham to loan potential business owners up to $50,000 for their enterprises. With nearly $500,000 in loan funds available, half of which were donated by the town's two community banks, and $100,000 available for entrepreneurial training, many are excited by the possibilities.
"Personally, I think Michael's an incredible resource to the town. I'm very excited about the micro loan program that will provide an opportunity to get some business owners to come here. And that's exactly what we need, to bring more commercial revenue to the town," commented lifelong Stoneham resident and Chamber of Commerce member Sharon Iovanni, who made it clear she was speaking as a private citizen.
Like Gallerani, Iovanni worries about the consequences of eliminating the Community Development office.
"I still think the position should be in place. This is an important service. If we don't look forward, things are going to go backwards and then we'll have to make even more cuts," said Iovanni.
"The more unattractive this community becomes to potential business owners, the more empty store fronts we're going to have and the more commercial taxes we're going to lose. And then who's going to shoulder the burden?" she added.
Labeling Gallerani's work on the master plan as an important step that puts the town at an advantageous position to receive grants, Berry also agrees that it would be folly to wipe out the department.
"Even if we weren't cutting other departments...there's no other position in town that would have the time or the experience to perform that function and keep us on the "good side" of the state to get these grants," Berry explained.
"All these plans are coming together right now and frankly, I think we'll lose in the long-run if we don't have somebody in that office to do this."
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