Meet the Candidates

What Did They Say

In 2021, Town Hall endured a mass exodus of staff, including one seasoned Select Board member. At that time, I was on the Finance Committee and already familiar with the budget structure and process, so when a Special Election was announced I made the decision to run for the open Select Board seat. With the knowledge from my experience on the Finance Committee and my business background, I knew I would be successful in helping rebuild the team. My goal was to strengthen Town operations by hiring qualified staff and implementing long-term plans aligned with the Board's and taxpayers' priorities.

The creation of a Capital Fleet and Facility Plan were among the first of my initiatives, helping to prioritize Town projects and forecast spending. The facility plan gave a road map of the maintenance and repairs needed to preserve our town buildings for future use.

Implementation of clear, State-supported, financial policies to help manage the budget process for future successors was also an early achievement. Together, the Select Board reviewed and tailored critical financial policies to fit Sandisfield's unique needs.

Two significant achievements of this Select Board:

• Implementation of the split tax rate to reduce the tax burden on nearly all residential properties.
• Supporting the School Committee while they successfully negotiated a new Regional School District Agreement significantly benefitting all taxpayers.

Another significant initiative I focused on was the establishment of a new wage matrix for Sandisfield's DPW employees. The new matrix is based on licenses and credentials, incentivizing employees to build skills and increase their value. It was also negotiated that the Town would cover the cost of classes in exchange for an employee's commitment to remain with the department for a defined period.

Other Select Board accomplishments since I have been a member include:

• Installation of GPS tracking systems on all Town-owned vehicles and equipment to ensure safety and accountability.
• The first favorable audit results in many years, thanks to our amazing financial team.
• New building permit fee structure to minimize repair fees and maximize improvement permit fees.
• Addressing accountability concerns with building code and bylaw violations through new policies and consistent enforcement.
• Auditing the assessment process to ensure all properties are fairly and equitably reassessed on an ongoing basis.
• A complete revamp of public safety services with a new transparent path forward.

I have personally overseen the following Facility projects:

• Installation of the heat pumps and generators at Town Hall.
• Replacing the roof, furnace, and drop ceilings at Old Town Hall.
• Painting the exterior of Old Town Hall, and installation of storm windows on the large windows.
• Replacing the roof, correcting the basement flooding, and painting the Library.
• Emergency repair of the Handicap ramp at Old Town Hall.

I am running for re-election to the Select Board to ensure we continue to accelerate the steady pace of progress we've established over the last four years.

Moving forward, I would like to continue to focus on persistent infrastructure needs. While we are already addressing the ongoing deferred maintenance on Town buildings, Sandisfield's bridges and roads will be one of the next heavy lifts. The town has hired a great new DPW superintendent who will be instrumental in this process.

There is also the concern of revenue generation. The town receives most of its revenues from tax dollars which severely limits our ability to tackle these larger problems. The current Master Plan created roughly 10 years ago by a great group of volunteers made recommendations to the Town for some of these opportunities. Unfortunately, they were not acted on.

Those opportunities still exist, and I believe that with the team we have in place and the continued collaboration between boards and committees, we will be successful in establishing meaningful new revenue sources for Sandisfield.