Accomplishments on the Select Board
Long Term Planning
Through initiatives such as the Madden Report from the Budget Override Evaluation Committee, where I served as a Select Board rep, and the amended Regional School Agreement where I was the Selectman appointed. We also hired new Police and Fire Chiefs and a new Town Administrator. We completed a five year strategic plan and are updating our Capital Plan to keep moving in the right direction. I also took the lead on several of the Town’s planning initiatives, working with the Town Administrator on Right to Farm, Open Space Planning, and zoning initiatives.
Managing the Pandemic
The Town navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic and the Board always acted on the best known recommendations from the CDC, MassDPH, and Whitman Board of Health. I personally worked to keep the public informed through this website and my social media channels. If you watched our remote meetings you probably also noticed I was managing the Zoom sessions.
Preparing for A Changing Climate
Whitman has developed a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness and Hazard Mitigation Plan for the first time. We’re on the path to Municipal Energy Aggregation! We completed the transition to LED streetlights, purchased several hybrid police cruisers, banned single use plastic bags and polystyrene containers, and adopted the Community Preservation Act to preserve open spaces. Read more.
Continued Making Whitman a Welcoming place to live
The Board, with a lot of research by myself and Chair Kowalski, issued the Town’s first proclamation declaring June as Pride month and authorizing the Town to fly the Pride Flag at Town Hall. We also authorized the painting of a rainbow crosswalk at the library, and supported the painting of two more at the High School and Middle School. I drafted the Town Meeting article changing our name from Board of Selectmen to the gender neutral Select Board. Independent of my role on the board, I asked the School Committee to change their decades old policy of dressing male graduates in black and female graduates in red, opting for a more inclusive uniform robe for all gender identities.
Maximized Grant Funding
I worked to make sure we stayed compliant with MBTA Communities to keep the maximum grant funding available. In my time on the board we received over $500K in Street and Sidewalk grants, nearly $400K in Fire Department equipment grants, received millions in CARES and ARPA, entered the MVP grant program, and I personally wrote a few grant applications myself.
Other Accomplishments
The Select Board gives me some flexibility to work on small initiatives within town. Some of the issues I dug into were the hourly rates for non-union employees and passed a policy to get the election workers and recording secretaries all paid at least the state minimum wage. I also worked with the Veterans Agent to get Whitman to become a Purple Heart Community. Passing the Community Preservation Act was a decision of the voters, but I helped write the bylaw adopted to establish a Community Preservation Committee and did the background work to get that committee off the ground. Likewise I pushed the town to revisit the prohibition on recreational marijuana establishments, and Town Meeting decided to repeal the ban.
