Ep1 Clock Town Chronicles

001All right, hello and welcome to the first episode of our new podcast The Clock Town Chronicles. I'm your host Michael Herbert and this series is designed to bring more of your local government to you and your home. Each month we are going to talk about important things happening in the town of Ashland, how they impact you and most importantly how you can get involved in shaping the town of Ashland for the future. Each episode we're going to bring on one or two guests that are involved in different aspects of municipal government and get their perspectives on today's issues and a little bit about how they got involved in local government. Today we have two very special guests, our assistant town manager Jen Ball and select board member Joe Mignani, our longest serving select board member,

002I should say. Um and today's episode we're really going to focus more on a retrospective of the last 10 or 12 years or so in Ashland and really how we got to the place where we are today. Um and as like I said before in the future we'll talk about more current issues and talk about how residents can get involved in shaping Ashland's future. So as I said before my name is Michael Herbert. I'm actually the town manager here in Ashland and have been for the last eight years. A lot of people may wonder who what is a town manager and really at its core level the select board and the town manager they provide the executive leadership for the town of Ashland. Our select board acts as the chief elected body in town and

003they appoint a town manager who functions as the CAO and the CFO of the community. So that's a little bit of my role. I've been fortunate to Yeah, I've been town manager for eight years but I've been here for almost 11. First I was the assistant town manager and finance director. So I've been privy to a lot of changes happening in town and um you know, actually have been fortunate enough to to help be a part of a lot of that stuff. So without further ado, Jen, welcome. Hello. Good to good to see you here, Joe. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Thanks for being here. Um So yeah, Jen, you're the assistant town manager and you're one of um you were one of my first hires and and probably probably my most important. My

004as I always commonly say the the right hand and the left hand of the organization. But you've you've been with me ever since I started the way since I've been town manager and so you've seen a lot of things happening in here in town and a lot of changes but um one of the things I I really want to know from you is what has been from a project perspective, what has been the most important one for you on on a professional level? Um so I think that's a really hard question to answer. I think there's been a number of projects that I'm really proud of um and if I had to think of one I won't be able to. So I'm thinking of sort of two that sort of rise to the top. One

005Joe will be able to sort of speak to as well as obviously the new public safety building sort of um helping bring that project to fruition. It was incredibly complicated. It was incredibly valuable to the departments but then also the community and so that was really rewarding project and it took probably three or four years of sort of time and effort. Three or four years, I think you're being optimistic there. Well, of my of my sort of full focus. I think that the community had work on it for probably a decade. Oh gosh, yeah. Yeah, it was uh Joe, do you have any insights and thoughts about it? I mean gosh, we really started working on this I think in 2017 when we started doing the site analysis. You're right, Michael and a lot of

006that a lot of that insight came from years of talking about having a new location and having a new building. And it progressed from I mean this started with Bob Gunfradi when he was the chief. Yeah, it was back in the 80s, all right? actually late 70s early 80s when that discussion started because when we moved into the the old police station it was brand spanking new when we moved in and the unfortunate thing was it was too small and uh not not the right fit for the for the department. There was no future site for you know, progressive thinking of having women on the department at that time even though we had three women working full-time at as as police officers and dispatchers and stuff but unfortunately there was no place for them to

007get dressed this and that. So there was no real thought and effort put into it. It was it was a a design idea and it became an architectural design more than a functioning police station. Mhm. You know, so that's how that started. That's how it worked and Bobby Gunfradi was really you know, disappointed that they didn't have much say in into the into that building as what we were able to provide for the fire and police department and the departments and personnel that are working in that building. These are yeah, it was uh Yeah, it's it's funny you know, when I was putting the guest list together for this first episode I I you know, I thought about it just from a perspective of who's been here the longest but you're right, both of you

008have been instrumental in the public safety building and again that was a really critical project for uh for the town and um I think one of the things I was most proud of as town manager is actually the the votes that that that we took or that the community took to move this project forward but it was also not just the public safety building but it was the Mendes school and both of them passed with almost 90% of the vote, pretty much the same and I really felt like that was that was just highlighted the partnership that we have with the school department and the way we feel is like a community. And uh you know, before we start talking a little bit more about projects and everything I probably should have rewound the tape

009back a little bit to how we got here. Uh so just folks, just let everybody know we're winging it here. Um you know, we don't have a script so we're we're doing the best we can. So if we jump from one place to another just bear with bear with us but you know, I think when when I started here one of the things that I I found was that um you know there there was a lot of arguments happening amongst committees, amongst you know, different departments and I I found that a lot of energy was being I think wasted on on small things and so you know, one of my goals was to to help everybody I can I think just kind of bring everybody together and one of the things I noticed is that

010if we could carve out some funds to do some of these some of these projects, these community development and infrastructure projects and professionalize our departments a little bit or add departments um you know, if we could find some funding to do that that would probably solve a lot of those um arguments and and complex relationships or or add to those complex relationships and so really what we tried to do at the at the very beginning um this was I mean back when Tony Sciappa was the town manager and I was the assistant really started trying to carve out money from fixed costs, reducing fixed costs like we moved our insurance to the GIC and thanks to the employees for being willing to do that. We also did a lot of energy efficiency upgrades. And that

011actually freed up the money to do a lot of the things that we're talking about or that we're going to talk about today but um you know, in addition to the public safety building Jen, you were heavily involved in the Riverwalk project which I am I like to refer to as Ashland's first nice to have project. You know, it wasn't necessarily uh steak and potatoes type infrastructure work but um maybe you can give a little bit of insight into what all went into that project and making it the the gem that it is today. I'm sure. So this was another project that the community had been working on for about a decade and we were able to sort of take it from concept and design to sort of allocate the proper funding and bring it

012to fruition. And so really working with the open space and recreation committee who had been working on it and and getting permits for I I believe eight years before we had implemented. Um it was a it was a larger project. It was one of the largest projects that I had worked on up to that date and it was complex meaning we had to figure out a way to have a pedestrian bridge over Mill Pond to connect the actual walking trail that existed as part of the Bay Circuit to our Mill Pond Park. And we also had to work with several land owners just to make sure that we're able to access the entire trail and it connects down to Ponderosa. There's a vision that we'll be able to connect downtown. Initially we were hoping to

013connect at the VFW and then maybe Marathon Park and so we're sort of still looking at that. So we're finished phase one. It's just a little over a mile and there's a component that is ADA accessible that brings you to a beautiful observation platform so that everybody in the community can enjoy nature. I think one of the best parts of that project is that it was intended to invite people who would maybe not feel super comfortable going into many of the other trails that we have in town, whether it's either in the state forest um or I mean the state park or the town forest. Um and so this is very accessible to anybody. Um it's well used. I think there's been some really beautiful pictures. I think um in the fall it's the most

014beautiful uh with the with um with the bridge and the foliage and the park. And so I think it's really um met its goal of bringing people um to really appreciate the trail systems that we have in town and sort of introducing a a whole segment of people to just uh our beautiful beautiful natural resources. Yeah, and I think uh you know, that project was I think 25 years in the making. I think Dave Foster, John Ellsworth, uh Rob Seger Maine, I think back in the day they kind of cut the initial trail, but um and then open space and recreation committee kind of took the ball and and got the first step of engineering done and then you know, it was really up to us I think to kind of figure out how we're

015going to implement this and and make it a reality, but you're right. You come in uh you come downtown in the fall and you see so many people and a lot of them from out of town and I know this just because I I chat with them because well, that's what I do is talk. And um you know, they it's just become I think just that anchor point I think for downtown especially in the fall. One of the things that uh that is also coming is on the other side of that bridge next to the historical society. Uh there was that observation platform and so that just became a little bit too old to be safe and so we're replacing that, but we've actually exposed the old sluiceway that fed the mill across the street

016and uh so we're going to make that the walkway, the old sluiceway and and so that'll be pretty pretty cool. Um hope everybody enjoys that, but Joe, like you mean she I don't You've been around for so long. I've been trying to say that as respectfully as thou canst. Yeah, you can say it. Um no, not as old as dirt, but you know, you know, you you've been around since uh for for a bit and you've seen a lot of changes here, but um not just from a project perspective, but just a community perspective. What do you think's been the biggest changes you've seen since you've been on the select board? Well, thank you. I would say that the population has changed dramatically. I mean the diverse the diversity of the folks that are coming

017in. Um with with the uh Indian population uh Russians uh population, you know, very large in on the uh west part of the town, the south actually southwest part of the town in the condos area and um you know, that's it's it's it's nice to have that diversity. It's nice to see uh more people of color coming into this community uh and being accepted where earlier when I was younger uh there weren't many families that, you know, of color in town. I mean you you I mean you could count on one hand how many how many there were. But back in that day, I mean the folks and the kids that were going to school, they didn't see anybody of color. They just saw a friend. They just saw a person. They didn't get into

018that. Now, we weren't into this is the and again, you know, the radical movement in the late '60s, early '70s was was was very prevalent. So uh you know, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy and you know, the uh the reform of racial uh reform was happening back then. Right. And um you know, Ashland didn't have a lot of that, but they were able to live with each other in harmony and there wasn't there wasn't an issue. We never saw it as an issue growing up as as kids in the school system, whatever. Um but um you know, that's probably one of the main things. And there was a lot of open space back then. Yeah. And and and unfortunately, there was a baby boom and there were you know, there was a population boom

019in this area and it's still happening. Uh that uh you know, more families are moving into town so the open fields and the lands that we used to hang around in play or whatever was has been taken away. So it it became a focus for several boards that I sat on to purchase some of that open space and and keep it and keep it that way. You're starting with like Warren Woods. Warren Woods, right. Yeah, and that's some of the properties that abutted uh the town forest. Along Oregon Road, Echo Brook property and off of Lincoln. Right. So I mean those areas in and of itself, I mean that's that's and I'm happy that we were able to do that because it brings back some you know, great memories of what Ashland used to be

020uh before it was all developed and uh and we're almost out to that capacity right now. I mean we're we're getting very close to it. Yeah, the whole build out build out analysis, that's coming as part of the comprehensive plan, which is something that we'll talk about in the in the future episode, but you know, Joe, I I like to say that you know, sometimes our best work happens when things don't happen. And uh you know, you talk about purchasing of open open space and to keep that land from being developed. And Ashland actually over the last 10 10 years has spent um over $10 million on on open space protection and and acquisition and we've got, you know, creative ways to um you know, protect open space without just buy it. Like so we

021found some very generous uh land owners uh who would be willing to put deed restrictions on their property if we bought abutting uh parcels as open space and it's uh it's made uh I I think a huge difference in town, but then people people don't necessarily see that. They just know that it's not being developed. And um sometimes they don't even realize that the town has acquired that property and protected it for uh for posterity. But uh but yeah, open space has definitely been a big uh a big priority I think for the town and that's something that we've seen in surveys and and everything. And and with population growth, you have children that are coming into the community. So, you know, your school system is going to be affected by that. Uh they're going

022to need more space and more room. And then uh you know, the social aspect of of of children and a lot of that social aspect comes with sports and then activities. And so now you need fields, you know, to to provide that those areas of uh programs for kids to have fun and so now there there was a field issue. And a lot a lot of the discussion came about, you know, do we want regular natural turf or do we want, you know, artificial turf? And in the long run with all the discussions and the committees that were that were developed, uh it came down to common sense. It was going to be a lot of money to keep the natural turf, which needed resting period and you don't have enough uh grass to uh

023grass fields to be maintained to let one field rest before season and utilize something else. So the turf uh uh option was was was used and that it's been working pretty well. Um the unfortunate thing is there was a time when we didn't have someone maintaining the fields to the point where renting the fields uh we lost a lot of we lost many opportunities to, you know, generate revenue unfortunately to maintain those fields. And now the other towns around us have developed their their their options to purchase, you know, turf fields. So, you know, the rental is not there any as it was, you know, 10 15 years ago. So, you always got to recalibrate, right? All right. Yeah, always got to you have to relook at everything. There's the plan and then, you know,

024okay, something goes awry and then you have to kind of look at a contingency plan. Right. And and unfortunately, we didn't we didn't do that. We were just initially hoping to get you know, fields available for the kids to to be able to play and and so far it it's worked out other than, you know, the the rental aspect of it, but Yeah, and so now I mean I think it's safe to say that our athletic programs, especially the youth sports programs have outgrown our current field capacity and I know there's there's plenty of demand for for new fields. Um you know, moving beyond infrastructure though, you know, we've changed a lot as an organization. And Jen, you've uh you've been a key part of that and you lead a number of departments. Um you

025know, I think uh I think you know, we've added a few departments like HR. We've added an economic development department, but one of the things that uh we really worked hard on when we started working together was this uh human services and and prevention program and you know, maybe you can talk a little bit about that and and what uh what that's meant to you both personally and professionally and and uh and how it's helped people here in Ashland. Sure. So, when I came on, we we had a youth and family services division as part of our community center and so we always had a case worker and we had a long-standing food pantry that certainly um meets uh with the help of the emergency fund the needs of people struggling with food insecurity and

026that has been we've maintained that as a vital part of the new department and so the department has really evolved. Um initially we brought on a licensed social worker and created a human services department that really was focused on sort of doing graph round services for our most vulnerable um residents that might struggle with housing, they might struggle with mental health, they might struggle with substance abuse um or misuse. Um and we've grown that um just in terms of now um including prevention. So, uh Decisions at Every Turn has been working incredibly hard in the community um with school-aged um prevention programs and also um really run by parents in town um that really are focusing on education around substance abuse and as sort of we are streamed through COVID, really focusing on mental health

027crisis and what that actually hap- you know, what that does to the adult population and also how it leads to substance misuse and abuse. Excuse me. And so, over they were grant-funded for 10 years. And they had a coordinator and we've systematically sort of stepped off of that grant and incorporated Kristen French, who is now our director of prevention and human services into the town. So, I think that's a huge feather in the cap of Decisions at Every Turn in terms of really institutionalizing prevention into our organization. It's something that you and I have really believed in from from go. I mean, really worked to make sure that we could incorporate her and keep her and keep their mission alive. And so, now she's leading the department and incorporating prevention as much as we can

028in all aspects of our program. So, working to have prevention messages in recreation programs, in the library programs, partnering throughout the community and then also continuing our partnership with the schools. We have a really strong partnership with both the middle school and the high school in terms of some of their campaigns. Human services continues to grow and is incredibly busy. Oh gosh, yeah. You know, really trying to deal with giant problems of housing, which obviously, you know, there's a staff of two and a half. We have two full-time caseworkers. One is a licensed social worker and the other a caseworker and then a part-time food pantry coordinator there. And really sort of working on housing, food insecurity, mental health. Working with the police in terms of crisis intervention and their jail diversion program. And so,

029it's been really a successful program. It's incre- it's meeting a real critical and essential need in the community and sort of as we can address those and help them connect them with social services throughout the region and we can help people to sort of um live a more fulfilling and stable life, the the better the community is. And sort of we've definitely had a huge program. A part of it is the much Most people probably have heard of is probably the holiday program. Yeah. And so, that's really connecting donors within this incredibly generous community to families who may not be able to provide gifts for their children during the holiday season. And it's a really beautiful community building program in which we have you know, over 100 people being donors, meeting the needs of over

030100 and I believe it was 120 families this year. So, that is sort of probably the most well-known, but there is all this work that's happening year-round that's never really gets talked about because it is confidential and um but they're incredibly busy day-to-day. Yeah. Yeah, and Joe, you know, just uh from your perspective, I mean, you've been part of the organization that's the town of the town of Ashland for uh many years. I mean, first as an officer, you know, for um for a couple of decades at least, right? And then as a member of the select board, there was a period of overlap there, but from your perspective, what do you think has changed the most amongst our among our organization? It is if you What's interesting that act that and some of the

031programs that Janet just talked about and mentioned it they actually started as grassroots programs when I was affiliated with the police department. You know, we we had we had drug prevention programs that, you know, they were grant-funded by state and federal programs. Those money has since gone and dried up. So, I'm happy to see that, you know, Decisions at Every Turn has taken, you know, has taken over what we used to do. And it was this one person. It was me, myself, and I that would go into the schools and do other things. Um Isabelle Harrison, if you don't mind me mentioning her name. not. very involved with the the families and Isabelle's a legend here. And she, you know, some of the programs that she talked about that that the holiday program I mean,

032town hall, you couldn't you couldn't go downstairs because that was the main focus of all the gift drop-offs and everything down down the cellar before the the changeover was made. And so, you know, everybody was part of that. Police, fire, you know, even town employees would go down. They would wrap gifts or whatever people were dropping off. And that also was the own base for the food pantry as well. Um especially now where I think it yeah, Brittany's office and the office next to her. Brittany, our finance director. Sure. Right. And you know, for the well reference uh conference room A, which is now the uh They call it the COVID Yeah, the COVID COVID headquarters. COVID headquarters, right? So, I mean, that was the area of concern where everybody would pile all the the

033food and everything and get the baskets all sent out. And it was a whole town project. Fire office firefighters, police officers would deliver the foods and and and at Lions members would be involved. So, I mean it it makes me happy to see that these projects just didn't go by the wayside like like like the dodo bird, right? You know, they progress and have and have flourished into these great programs that have been, you know, funded through town, you know, town resources and and and the tax base. So, when people say, "Our taxes are too high." Well, you know, they may be high, but when you think of all the social programs that have come out of this it's it's very it's hot warming. Ashland is very special that way. Mhm. Um but we we

034do what we have to do for those that that are in need and you know, charity starts at home. And and what else would be a place to to have it continue but within the town itself? So, I don't know if I answered that properly, but I I just yeah, and I also think we I think we cognitively sort of looked at and really we're trying to be respectful of all the work that had been done. And so, building off of the holiday program and um you know, everybody in that department still talks about Isabelle Harris and um and all the work that was done in the past and then sort of sort of building off of that to just try to make it, you know, 1% 10% better. I think even just changing the

035name from Youth and Family, which many other towns still maintain that. Um we sort of looked at so, if you're not a youth and you're not a family, we still want to make sure that they know that there is a place for them to go. And if they need assistance, we can still help them. Um there is a sort of direct correlation also to our senior outreach worker to make sure that the seniors are receiving the services that they need. Um you know, we we love the fact that it's at the community center even if it's sort of sometimes we're a little squished for space, particularly in the food pantry. Um but the connections that you have there, you have the recreation department there. So, you already have young people. You have the seniors who

036you know, may not go someplace else if they need services. Um so, it it sort of does work and it does feel much more community. And the holiday program still has um you know, the fire department, the police department still participate and assist with that. We do have members of the Lions that are definitely volunteering their time. And so, it's sort of building on all of that um that happened in previous But it you know, it comes it comes in time. Maybe just like when you take a walk into the woods, you know, you sometimes you go in an area where no one's gone before. So, you have the you have the you have the path. You have the first one to go to go through. So, it's it's nice to see that progress. And

037now, where it was a path, it's now a crosswalk, or it's a walkway. You know, so people can utilize it more. There's more There's more benefit to it. So, to hear all of this, I mean, I I sit back and I I smile. I say, "Thank you." Yeah. Thank you to everybody that's taken that torch and and and continued doing the things that we started because those folks haven't been forgotten. And that's the needy. That's and that's quite important for me. I mean, it's, you know, we were a small town back then. We didn't have a lot. There wasn't a lot. There weren't any rich people. I mean, we were all, you know, blue-collar workers. They they wasn't, you know, we weren't we weren't the Sherwins. We weren't, you know, the Wellesleys or whatever. You

038know, so we we all had to work. And whatever we were able to contribute to help the community, that's what we've done. And and I take and I take full acknowledgement that the both of you when when you came on board, even as an assistant town manager, a lot of the work that was done was done behind the scenes by the both of you. And you know, other credit may have been given to other individuals, but you guys were the folks that you know were the were the ones that the over all of you was overseers of the work that was really being done. That made a difference. So, that was my observation when I first got on. And I will continue that that observation because you folks are are very uh endearing to me

039because I've I've watched what you have done and made Ashland a lot better. But not just not for the children, but for the entire community as a whole. We we bridged the gap. Yeah, and it opened a chapter of of the some things, but we bridged the gap between when we first started. Joe, I might invite you back again. I mean, you have to keep on with this. Yeah, well it's um People were butting heads. Departments were butting heads. It was us versus them Yeah. attitude. And when we saw and we looked at policies that would be beneficial for everybody to utilize, I mean, cooler heads prevailed. Everybody agreed that this may be the right approach to take. And that policy is in effect right now and I hope it stays that way. You know,

040maybe there's always a little tweak that needs to be done, but all in all, I mean, you're talking about the finance. The financial aspect of it. Right. I mean, any new money that comes in is a 70/30 split and the way it should be. And everybody benefits by it. It's not, "Well, we need this more than No, it's it's we're in this together." And and I think that attitude has has fostered you know a better and a great change of how budgetary thought process is being done in this community and in much much better than other communities around us. Yeah, I would agree. I mean we're fortunate to have great relationships with the superintendent and school committees and the finance committee and you know, finance can be a little bit boring but it it's really

041kind of the the foundation of any type of organization and any kind of public services because unless you have money you can't really do anything. You can't put cops on the street. You can't patch roads. You can't do some of these projects that we're doing and so yeah, that was that was a pretty important important thing that we have because you know, it also not only did it carve out money for the projects that we're doing today but um it also started addressing our long-term liabilities and so we're planning for the future as well so we don't get caught off guard and we're you know, we're not totally kicking the can down the road. You know, we're taking care of things like our OPEB liability which is health insurance for retirees. It's a fancy name

042for that and then also our rainy day fund which has been key. But Joe wanted you to just getting back to the projects one of the things that you know, you and I kind of shared a moment with was something that's very near and dear to my heart which is the downtown project. And I mean I can remember you and me and Carl kind of walking Yeah, the walk. We'll call it the walk. Yeah, down down Main Street and just kind of envisioning what it would look like with the poles underground and everything and what do you think about the evolution of that project? We're not we're not finished yet. We still got to get the poles down but we're almost there. It was funny. I I was in the company of Carl a couple

043of couple of days ago and we were we were talking about that. I said remember the walk. He says oh yeah, the walk was it was that actually started that that movement that let's let's do it. Yeah. You know, and and the discussion came well, yeah, we make the sidewalks better and you know, beautiful crosswalks all night and yet to beautify downtown. We need to be beautifying downtown. Get rid of the all the pointless get rid of the get rid of the bloody We got a few sound effect buttons here which we haven't tried yet. Get rid of the bloody you know, wires and hanging you know, telephone poles out you know, put them out of sight put them under the ground and that then that whole that initial discussion actually came it came to

044fruition and and you know, within the next year or two. Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to press the button. You're good. Here we go. There you go. Look at that. downtown. Yeah, hey downtown. And and it's and it's come and and people are happy with it. Yeah, especially this past year during the holiday season. Oh my gosh, it was incredible. It was absolutely incredible. You know, you see all the people you know, do the holiday stroll and get the getting the the business folks involved in it. You know, Beth has done a great a great job and Beth Reynolds or our economic development director. Town Hall looks so pretty. Oh, it looks very Oh, it and it and it'll continue. You you go from one building to the next and you know, hopefully we

045can uh put funding and make a line item of that and and hopefully that and maybe the business community sees that and helps towards that as well. So we can we can all do that so. But it was very very nice and I know Santa was very happy to see it when he came down and saw all those he was very very impressed with how Ashland now getting getting into the holiday spirit real quickly. Yeah, and Santa's the guy to impress that time of year. It certainly is. You know, It's Santa Santa is really really uh you know, Santa when he comes to Ashland his favorite spot. It is favorite spot and I will have to say like I have a personal experience with that because and I like to share because my daughter you

046know, when I started here she was 3 years old and believe it or not she wasn't she wasn't totally convinced about Santa. And when Santa came to town one year she went and got on Santa's lap and Santa knew exactly what she wanted and I remember her getting on that lap and Santa said well, I hear you want I think it was like a Princess Sofia the First Castle. I think that's what she was into at the time and I tell you her just smile like this amazed look on her face and she she came out of that little hut a believer so I always got a a special place in my heart for for Santa here in town. Jen, what are some of the other projects that you uh that you really like and

047are proud of? I mean we've got so many. We got 126. We've got the Mendes school. We talked about the public safety building. Um what any of those or ones that I didn't mention that really kind of resonate with you? I mean all of those for sure. I mean I think all of them have a a part in sort of transforming the physical part of our community. I do love sort of programs also. I think we've come a long way in our programs. I think at the library we have a crazy amount of programs. Any given day you can find um something that you're interested in. I think with recreation and our seniors sort of just keep building on programs and I think sometimes when we're thinking about community we think about the physical places

048and sometimes I think we also need to think about the programmatic where you can actually connect with some people that you may not otherwise cross paths with and I think that is invaluable and I think our staff does an amazing job with that. I'm lucky enough to be part of Ashland is United that also does programs like Breaking Bread which actually Joe was at. It was a very cool program I'm waiting for I'm waiting for it to come up again. Yeah. Yeah, again that guy was awesome. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, so they do sort of programs intentionally connecting people that might not otherwise cross paths and I think if we're talking about physical projects another project super proud of is the Trolley Brook Trail which you know, you know, on its face

049you're thinking it's less than a mile. It was sort of the easiest piece of the Upper Charles Trail because we we owned the property but it was one of the projects that really sort of far surpassed my vision. Like I was really surprised and now I I walk it almost every day but it's a beautiful path that you know, you're weirdly sort of trans transplanted or something into the into the woods from Megunko Road. You know, Megunko is probably the most industrial I mean next to Nickerson Road off 126. Megunko is pretty industrial and then you just walk into this environmental you know, beauty. Yeah, it's like almost magical in a way that it sort of brings you to this place from like you said the most industrial you know, you're walking not on a

050sidewalk to this through the street and then you end up on this beautiful path for a little bit of a mile. It's so that project was surprisingly satisfying in terms of you know, what I had envisioned and then to actually see it. And again it's the start of something that will be much much bigger that will take likely years and years and years to come. The Upper Charles Trail so which we're making some progress. When it happens it'll it'll be a beneficial beneficial for every you know, everybody you know, whether they ride bikes or they just walk the trail. Right. You know, so Right. which would be nice. Um You know, I'm sorry my name interrupted you Mike. The the programs that you were talking you know, that you had mentioned these programs are are

051essential for everybody. You know, not just groups of individuals but for every every sector of our community from children to the to the seniors and without these programs you can build great buildings but if you have nothing to provide activities for these programs you know, for these for these buildings. You know, like you said the library my God. I mean going back and look at what we had for a library and then they were very limited with what we have and you know, we had a one of the size of this studio was the was the children's aspect of which was downstairs in a musty old you know, basement and they had they did the best that they could do but now today you have a vibrant children's library that is just so full of

052activity. Oh yeah. It it and no wonder why parents love it you know, and you know, support it. Yeah, it's a good good opportunity to give a shout out to Lois McAuliffe who her last day actually as a children's librarian was yesterday and she'd been there for over a couple of decades but Mina Mina Jain who has been our library director now two or three years has just done an amazing job of bringing programs in for sure. I think you know, one of the things I wanted to just kind of pivot towards is just talking about you two individually and why you got into you know, public service and and Joe I'll I'll ask you specifically what made you decide to run for the select board? Well, there was this there was a a discussion

053that was being had in front of a select board well at the time a selectman board that was actually shutting out people's opportunity to speak on a topic. And it happened to be and this was this was the Warren Woods matter that the whole project was Warren Woods and it was in a discussion stage and the unfortunately the folks that were you know, were on the select as selectman at the time didn't want to hear it. So they shut the people down. And that's not what town government's about. Shutting you know, the voices of people should be heard especially from my officials. So, it annoyed me. I can remember my father's voice telling me in my ear to if you don't like what you see and if you don't do anything, you're part of the

054problem. Right. So, I said, "Okay." In my mind, I said, "Okay, that's it." I talked to my family to make sure it was okay with them cuz I knew it was going to be uh time-consuming in in in the beginning. Because we all know Donna runs the Magnani household. Yeah, yeah. I will say this right here. I'm not I'm not I'm not ashamed to say that my my my skirt's a little high right now, but yeah. And uh yeah, she's definitely the boss. There's no doubt about it. In any any Italian home, the mom's the boss. I don't care what people say. Oh, for sure. But anyway, long story short, she um they said, "Fine." And um so, talked to some of my friends and we started this, you know, campaign to run. Um I

055was very uh I was hip I was humbled by the support of the And and still received over the last, you know, three terms that that I ran and uh I think I hope people still trust and believe in me and my heart is to do the right thing for the community. I know that the current board that I that I sit on, uh we still have that same process and um we all feel the same way. We still have a commitment to this town. And um so, but that that's that was one reason. It was just the lack of not being able to speak and have and be heard on a on a matter was was was very compelling to me. And I think it's be compelling to anybody. You know, that's why I'm

056glad that we still have citizens participation, you know, during our meetings. Uh even now with Zoom, you have more people available to to speak if they they need to speak. So, uh but that was one of the reasons and then other other uh issues that we talked about, the public safety building. That was a big concern for me for over the years and I'm very thankful that we're able to complete that. And to the uh young lady sitting to my right, uh Jen, she was the uh brick and mortar of this whole project because she was procurement officer and she did more work behind the scenes than in front of us. So, you know, a lot of kudos to her for for the work that was done. And uh we still have a couple more

057things left to finish on that, but uh Just a couple more. Pretty soon we'll be able to dissolve that committee. Yes. Because we're all, you know, That's right, Joe, uh which you're the chair of. I should have mentioned that at the beginning. Jen kind of has the project management Joe is the chair of the of the building committee, you know. I was a spokesperson. The person that did all the work, unlike Paul Kendall with the school committee group uh school buildings uh committee. This young lady was the one that did all the work. Well, Jen yeah, Jen did a lot, but don't uh don't discount the role that you had, for sure. For sure. She gave me she gave me the latitude to do that, so thank you. But uh but yeah, Jen ran a

058tight ship on that project, for sure. So, uh Especially with especially with those people that were in the project in a in building the building itself. You know, you had site supervisors and stuff, but yeah, they would come to her and Jen would make a quick phone call or two. Oh, for sure. Yeah, and then uh then things would happen, for sure. Jen, what about you? I mean, so just a little bit of for those of you that know well, you wouldn't know, but you know, the history. Jen and I have known each other for, gosh, 12 Oh god, no. It's 14 years now, right? So, we both worked at the city of Lowell um for a while, but you know, you had been there for a while by the time I started in Lowell,

059but what what got you into public service? So, I think I've always been sort of driven for um community impact. Uh so, in Lowell, I actually had a very different role. I worked within the police department um really building programs. And so, again, I think that's part of the reason why I think programs are so important. I saw that sort of the transformation it can have um in an urban environment and how much um reach really small programs within a one department could have. Um I moved to the state for a number of years, I about 7 years I worked for um the Commonwealth and the and under the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. And um what drove me back is sort of the distance you have when you're in the state from

060actual community um and and people and sort of seeing any impact that anything that you're doing is making on a day-to-day basis. And so, sort of driven back to come uh to a community and sort of put all of my energy into sort of um helping transform a community and I think Ashland has been really welcoming to me and so, I feel like all the work that I tend to be behind the scenes um sort of intentionally, um but I can also see the change happening and that's really fulfilling for me uh personally. And so, I didn't have that necessarily when I was working on policy work um even some of the real work that we were implementing um sort of essential services at the at MEMA, um you don't actually see what's happening on

061the ground and I think that's really important and you can't get that um anywhere else and I really do love the sort of small town feel that Ashland still has as opposed to um some of the more urban areas that I've worked in um because you can really sort of be pretty flexible in some of the programs and some of the larger projects that we've worked on. Yeah, cool. And I mean, I I would say I mean, one of my greatest blessings is actually getting to work with both of you, I think, and just uh the the the commitment that you bring to it to the jobs and the time that you put in. Um Joe, I mean, you're in a volunteer role and and you you put in probably 40-hour weeks and Jen, you

062know, you you definitely put in 60-70 hour weeks. Um But no, thank you for both going into that and uh thanks, Melissa. Melissa, I was just about to ask uh for for a time check. Um Melissa Hayes uh here, let's give her a big round of applause for uh for putting all of this together as well as WACA and Paul Bowden and Barbara Chisholm. Um So, I think, you know, I think we're going to wrap this episode up. We're about at the 40-minute, maybe for cool close to 45-minute mark. Um But before we leave, uh we were going to try to do a a trivia question and Joe, you and I were talking a little bit about one and so, this is what I think we'll do. All right? So, we're going to we're going

063to have an email address, [email protected] and so, what we're going to do is we're going to ask a trivia question and people who want to write in and give us the answer, uh just send it to [email protected]. Just got to remember to set that email address up, but uh anyway, we will, but Joe, what what is the trivia question for this um this month? So, the trivia question this month, I have to be very careful because I don't want to give it give it away, but there was a project that was done in the early '20s and it was a WPA project. So, for the folks that were born and raised in Ashland, even some of the newer ones who have done their history uh research, where was the WPA project done in Ashland? So,

064there was one WPA project project done in Ashland and it was for the entire community. That's the hint. Okay. It was done for the And and where was it? Interesting. Interesting. So, yes, uh WB What was the WPA project in Ashland and where was it? Uh if you have the answer to that, uh write us at [email protected]. Uh folks, that's going to be uh it for this uh this episode, our first episode, our inaugural episode. I want to thank both of my guests, Jen Ball and Joe Magnani, uh for being with us today and and just explaining a little bit about their history here and kind of a recap of the last 10 or 12 years. Again, I want to thank Melissa Hayes, our communications coordinator, for putting all of this together and our friends

065at WACA, uh Barbara Chisholm and Paul Bowden for uh setting all this up and kind of making it all work. It's like magic. So, uh folks, it's uh it's been great talking with you and um again, I hope you enjoy this. Actually, even if you don't have an answer to the trivia question, if you could just write us and let us know what you think about the podcast and what you would like to hear in the future. Uh again, use that email address and we'll be sure to listen. So, um want to bid everybody adieu and uh thank you very much for listening. Thank you.