Up close with the Selectmen hopefuls
Published on January 25th, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - At least 17 residents pulled nomination papers for this April's upcoming election as of last Friday, according to Town Clerk John Hanright.
According to Hanright, those still interested in running for a seat on one of the town's seven elected boards have until the Friday Feb. 10 to pull papers for the general election on April 4.
Residents will decide on the future make-up of several boards and elected positions, including the Board of Selectmen (two-seats), School Committee (two-seats), Board of Health (one-seat), Board of Assessor's (one-seat), Housing Authority (one-seat) and Library Board of Trustees (two-seats).
"The last day to pull nomination papers is Friday, Feb. 10 at 5 p.m. The Town Clerk's office will be open for that purpose only," said Hanright. "The last day to return those to the Town Clerk's office will be Tuesday Feb. 14, again no later than 5 p.m."
With only one citizen officially recognized as a School Committee candidate, incumbent Marie Christie, the featured election showdown is likely to occur in the Selectmen's race, where six residents have announced their intentions to run for the two seats up-for-grabs.
However, according to South Hillside Street resident Jace Arrington, who pulled election papers for the Selectmen's office last November, he will be dropping out of the race because he feels, "the timing is just not good right now."
According to Hanright, with Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello's seat being vacated, as the 21-year veteran formally announced his retirement last Tuesday, the present-day five candidate race is likely to heat-up, especially with a non-binding question on the trash fee being recently placed on the election ballot.
"If there is a non-binding referendum question, that should bring a lot more people to the polls than normal," Hanright predicted.
In an interview with three-of-the-five Selectman's candidates - Calthea Street resident Matt Whooley and Steele Street resident R. Paul Rotondi couldn't be reached for comment as of presstime - incumbent Selectman Chair Robert Sweeney, former Selectman Charlie Smith, and Finance Board member Daniel Doherty answered a few questions from The Stoneham Independent.
Those questions, and the candidates' responses, follows.
SI: What factors led to your decision to run for office?
Sweeney: Basically, I feel like I have some unfinished business. We received some good financial news from the state last week [about potential state aid increases]. So it looks like we're finally turning the corner, and I'd like to see this through.
Smith: Well, the reason I took time of [by not running for reelection two-years-ago] was for health reasons and because my mother had a heart attack. But I felt that I left with unfinished business.
Doherty: I've been involved in the community since I ran [for Selectman] in 2004. I've been on the Finance Board since then and I want to be more involved with the town.
SI: What do you see as the single largest issue facing the Town of Stoneham?
Smith: Obviously, it's money. You can't just keep on taxing and feeing people in town. You just can't. We need to come up with some solid ways to create money other than putting the burden on the taxpayers. So we need to have a better plan for the future or this town won't exist.
Doherty: It's no secret that compared to other towns, we don't get the state aid we deserve. So we're going to have to find a way to create additional revenue streams. But the major issue to me is that the community is very divisive. I think there are a lot of groups that need to be bridged together where people can stand on different sides of an issue, but still come together as a community.
Sweeney: It's really the lack of state aid and the town budget. I'm real concerned about school mandates. The state mandates everything under the sun and doesn't fund it. So the budget is definitely the biggest issue right now.
SI: Outside of the town's fiscal problems, what do you see as the largest issue facing the town?
Doherty: One of the main issues is as much as we have an open-process with Town Meeting, we only meet twice a year, and the remaining 363 days a year should be looked at as an opportunity to make other decisions. For example, when you look at the master plan, it seems to be a backwards looking document that seeks to keep Stoneham the way it already is. And we need to look at transforming the town is some aspects.
Sweeney: Around the corner, I'd like to look at the development of the Stoneham Square area. There are a lot of projects [that have been proposed there]. And they'll be a whole slew of issues related to those plans. I'm also going to call the owner of Redstone and see what we can do to attract more tenants. It just seems like they're leaving one-by-one instead of coming into Stoneham one-by-one.
Smith: I think we lack foresight. We're living day-to-day here and we can't. There is no ten-year plan. There isn't even a five-year plan. If you want to keep certain things in town, like a skating rink - and I'll admit that things are going great there right now - we need to have a vision for the future.
SI: What is your opinion on renewing the rubbish fee or having a potential override or debt exclusion?
Sweeney: We are putting the trash fee question on the ballot. But right now, we're still waiting to hear the governor's budget. I've heard that state aid figures might be getting better, and I know our heath insurance premiums came out better than expected. So it's not going to be as hard as we thought. When the numbers do come out, we'll have a more concrete answer, but I just don't see the need for an override. I would put an override on the ballot, but I would not support it.
Smith: Obviously, I voted for the trash fee last year. And we should have put the question to the people last year. But I think we should also put a debt exclusion on the ballot, because you can at least write that off [on your taxes]. I'm not saying I'm for a debt exclusion, but we should ask the people in town what they want to do instead of just feeing them to death. So I think if you want to hear the voice of the people, it should be done for all major issues.
Doherty: Personally, I don't want to pay more. And I think that's the reaction of everyone. But I don't think that it's the right idea to close of any potential revenue streams right now. I don't think we've gone after these budget issues in a way that properly analyzes the whys, the whats, and the ifs.
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