Tell people about your background — family, professional background, volunteering, government, activism — and how that will help you as a Town Councilor.
I am married and a father of 3 children ( all graduates of Watertown High School). I own an a small business in Waltham, an auto body shop. I have been honored to serve on the council for more than 20 years so I bring many years of experience dealing with a lot of issues.
The pandemic has created some trying and difficult times for residents and along with that for local government, and in other towns elected and hired officials have stepped down. Why during these challenging times did you decide to run for office?
I am running again for a number of different reasons including my work as the School Building committee chair, doing 4 schools, looking to replace our long time Town manager and many other issues still facing the Town. I think more people are wanting to get involved because they see their strengths and ideas can help move the Town forward from the School issues, town issues and a robust library.
Being a new town manager is difficult enough, but following such a long-term and successful Town Manager will be a tough task. What do you look for in the new manager and how will you, as a councilor, help the new Town Manager get established and be successful?
I will be looking for a manager with strong fiscal capabilities as well as being a team player, working with the council and the community and communicating with all stakeholders on a regular basis. I hope to help by bringing my years of service to the taxpayers as being a useful person to gat the new manager up to speed and how I see things from my perspective and what we may be able to do better.
Being a new town manager is difficult enough, but following such a long-term and successful Town Manager will be a tough task. What do you look for in the new manager and how will you, as a councilor, help the new Town Manager get established and be successful?
I did not support the change to a city when we met as a committee as I feel that since 1630 we have been known as a Town and I don’t believe we gain anything by changing it. I support most of the changes but have some concerns with others.
Police funding and the services provided by the Watertown Police have become a big topic of discussion. Should the funding be increased, decreased or is it just about right? And, would you like to see how the Police in Watertown operate (please explain your answer)?
I think we can do more to strengthen the capacity of the Police Department and that would mean an increase in funding. I think we operate a great Police Department and would not want to discuss any operations until we see how the new police reform bill will play out and how it will affect the Department and what may be needed for implementation.
What issue in Watertown that might not be getting enough attention would you want to work on as a councilor, and how would you like the Town government to address the issue?
I think we need to examine the property tax structure. A lot of commercial development has gone on and I think the Town should be able to look at minimizing tax increases to the residential homeowner.
Watertown has taken a lot of steps to become more green and to address climate change. Do you think the Town has done enough, or would you like more to be done — if so what would you like to see?
I took the lead in advocating for zero net energy schools. We will have 3 of them when we are done. I also supported moving to more hybrid vehicles for the Town fleet and supported community aggregation for our electricity bills, solar on large buildings and other energy saving initiatives. I believe we can do more and hope to focus on more action items to address climate change.
What is something that people may not know about you that residents would find interesting?
I like to spend my summer weekends at the beach reading a book.