001[Music] all 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 the 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 at today we have two very special guests our assistant Town manager Jen ball and select board m Joe minani our longest serving select
002board member I 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 like I said before in the future we'll talk about more current issues and uh talk about how residents can get involved in shaping Ashley's future so as I said before my name is Michael Herbert uh I'm actually the town manager here in Ashland and have been for the last 8 years uh 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
003body in town and they 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 uh fortunate to uh yeah I've been Town manager for eight years but uh I've been here for almost 11 first I was the assistant Town manager and finance director so uh I've been privy to a lot of changes happening in town and um you know actually have been fortunate enough to uh to help be a part of a lot of that stuff so uh 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 uh yeah Jen you're the assistant to manager and you're one of um you were one of
004my first hires and and probably uh probably my most important my as I always commonly say the the right hand and the left hand of the organization but uh you've uh you've been with me every step of the way since I've been Town manager and so you've seen a lot of things happening 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 persp perspective what has been the most important one for you uh on on a professional level um so I think that's a really hard question um 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
005so I'm thinking of um sort of two that sort of rise to the top one um Joe will be able to sort of speak to as well is obviously the new public safety building um sort of um helping bring that project to fruition um it was incredibly complicated it was um incredibly uh valuable to the Departments but then also the community and so that was um really rewarding project and it took probably three or four years of sort of time and effort three or four year I think you're being optimistic there well of my of my sort of full Focus I think that the community had worked on it for probably a decade which yeah it was uh Joe do you have any insights and thoughts about it I mean gosh we really started working
006on this I think in 2017 when we started doing a sky yeah you're right Michael and a lot of that a lot of that um Insight came from years of talking about having a new location and having a new building um and it progressed from and this started with Bob Gan Friday when he was the chief back in the 80s right uh actually late actually late 70s early 80s when that discussion started because when we moved into the the old police station it was BR spankin knew when we moved in and the unfortunate thing was it was too small and uh not not the right fit for the for the dep Department uh there was no future site for you know Progressive thinking of having women on the department at that time even though we
007had three women working fulltime at as a as police officers and dispatchers and stuff but unfortunately there was no place for them to get dressed this that and 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 you know so that's how that started that's how it work and Bobby G 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 that did departments and uh Personnel that are working in that building yeah it was H yeah it's funny you know when I was putting the guest list together for this first episode I I you
008know I thought about it just from a perspective of who's been here the longest but uh you're right both of you have 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 vote that that that we took or that the community took uh 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 that that was that was uh just highlighted the partnership that we have with the school department and the way we feel is like a
009community and uh you know before we start talking a little bit more about projects and everything I probably should have rewound the tape back 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 uh so we're uh 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 uh 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 uh amongst committees amongst uh 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
010know one of my goals was to to help everybody I can't I think just kind of bring everybody together and one of the things I noticed is that if we could carve out some funds to do some of these um some of these projects these Community Development and infrastructure project projects and professionalize our departments a little bit or add departments um you know if we could find some funny to do that that would probably solve a lot of those um arguments in in 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 scabby was the town manager and I was the assistant really started trying to carve out uh money from fixed costs reducing
011fixed costs 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 actually freed up the money to do a lot of the things that we're talking about um 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 Ashley'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 and to what all went into that project and making it the the gem that it is today um sure so this is another project that
012the community had been working on for about a decade um and we were able to sort of take it from concept and design um to sort of um allocate the proper funding and bring it to fruition and so really working with the open space um and Recreation committee who had been working on it um and getting permit for I I believe 8 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 um up to that date um and it was complex meaning we had to figure out a way to have a a pedestrian bridge over U mil Pond to connect the actual walking trail that existed as part of the Bay Circuit um to our milpond Park um and
013we also had to work with several land owners just to make sure that we're able to um access the entire Trail and it connects down to ponder Roa there's a vision that we'll be able to connect downtown um initially we're hoping to connect 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 a just a little over a mile and there's a component that is um 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
014either 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 beautiful 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 whole segment of people to just so our Beau beautiful natural resources yeah and I think you know that project was think 25 years in the making I think Dave Foster John Ellsworth uh Rob St Germain I think back in the day they kind of cut the initial
015Trail but um in an 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 going 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 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
016to 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 slle way that fed the mill across the street and uh so we're going to make that the walkway the old SLO way and so that'll be pretty pretty cool um hope everybody enjoys that but Joe like yeah I mean she I know you've been around for so long I'm trying to say that is respectful this D yeah you can say um not as old as D but you know you know 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 a community perspective what
017do 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 dramatic I mean the diverse the diversity of the folks that are coming in 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 asally Southwest part of the town in the condos area and um you know it's it's it's it's nice to have the diversity it's nice to see uh more people of color coming into this community uh and being accepted where earlier when I was young uh there weren't many families that you know of color in the hound and me you could count on one hand how many how many there were
018but 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 are person they didn't get into that you know we weren't into this is and again you know the radical movement in the late 60s early 70s was was was very prevalent so uh you know mtin Luther King and uh Bobby Kennedy and you know the uh the reform the racial reform was happening back then right and um you know Ashan 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 kids in the school system whatever um but um you know that's probably
019one of the main things and there was a lot of open space back then yeah and and then unfortunately there was a baby boom and there you know there was a population boom in 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 and play or whatever was has been taken away so it it became a focus for several Woods that I sat on to purchase some of that open space and keep it and keep it that way you're starting with like waren Woods waren Woods right and then some of the properties that are buted uh the Town Forest along Oregon Road property off of Lincoln right so I mean those areas in and
020of 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 ashin used to be uh before it was all developed and um and we're almost out to that capacity right now I mean we're getting very close to it yeah the whole buildout uh buildout analysis that's coming as part of the comprehensive plan which is something that we'll talk about in a in a future episode but you know Joe I I like to say that you know know sometimes our best work happens when things don't happen and uh you know you talk about purchasing of op open space and to keep that land from being developed and Ashley actually over the last 10 10 years has spent um over 10
021million do on on open space protection and in acquisition and we've got you know creative ways to um you know protect open space without just buy it like so we found some very generous uh land owners mhm uh who would be willing to put deed restrictions on their property if we bought a budding uh Parcels as open space and it's uh it's made 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 right 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
022and 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 to 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 in so now there there was a fields issue and a 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
023down 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 uh grass fields to be maintained to let one field the rest before season and utilize something else so it turn uh option was was was used and it's been working pretty well uh the unfortunate thing is there was a time when we didn't have someone maintaining the fields to the point rening the fields uh we lost a lot of we lost many opportunities to you know generate Revenue yeah unfortunately to maintain those fields and now the other towns around us have developed the their their options to purchase you know T Fields so you know the rental is not there any as it was you know 10
02415 years ago so you always got to recalibrate right right yeah you have you have to relook at everything the plan and then you know okay something goes ay and then you have to kind of look at a contingency plan and that's kind and unfortunately we we didn't do that we would just initially hoping to get you know FS available for the kids to to be able to play and and so far it it's wored 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 US 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
025a lot as an organization and uh Jen you've uh you've been a key part of that and you lead a number of departments um you know 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 uh division as part of our community center and so we always had a caseworker and we
026had a longstanding food pantry that certainly um meets uh with the help of the emergency fund the needs of people struggling with food and security and that has M 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 wraparound 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 AED um prevention programs and also really run by parents
027in town um that really are focusing on education around substance of use and as sort of we've streamed through covid really focusing on Mental Health crisis and what that actually H you know what that does to uh the adult population and also how it leads to substance misuse and abuse 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 that every return in terms of really institutionalizing prevention into our organization um it's something that you and I have really believed in from from go I and really worked to make sure that
028we 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 in all aspects of our program so um working to have prevention me messages in Recreation programs in the library programs partnering uh throughout the community and then also continuing our partnership with the schools um we have a a really strong partnership with both the middle school and the high school in terms of some of their campaigns uh 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 case workers one is a licensed social worker and the other a case worker
029and then a part-time food pantry coordinator there and really sort of working on housing food insecurity mental health um working with the police in terms of Crisis Intervention um and their jail diversion program and so it's been really a successful program it's Inc 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 um we've definitely had a huge program a part of it is the which most people probably have heard of is probably the holiday program um and so that's really connecting donors within this incredibly generous Community um to families
030who may not be able to um provide gifts for their children during the holiday season and it's a really um beautiful Community Building program in which we have you know over a 100 people being donors meeting the needs of over aund I believe it was 12 20 families this year so that is sort of probably the most well-known but there's 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 dayto day yeah yeah it 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 ashin for uh many years I mean first as an officer you know for um for a couple decades at least right and then as
031a 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 is if you what's interesting that fact that in some of the programs that Jen just talked about and and mentioned it they actually started as grass roots uh programs um 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 uh programs those monies have since gone and dried up so I'm happy to see that you know uh decisions at every turn has taken you know has taken over uh what we used to do um and it was just one person it was me myself and I that
032would go into the schools and do all things um Isabelle Harrison if you don't mind me mentioning her name not she was very involved uh with uh the the families Isabelle's a legend here and she uh you know some of the programs that she taught like that the holiday program I mean Town 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 cell before the uh the change over was made and so you know everybody was part of that police fire you know even Town employees would go down they would R gifts or whatever people be dropping off and that also was the home base for the food pantry as well uh especially now we're uh I think it Britney's office
033and the office next to her Britney our finance director right yeah and uh the open well reference conference room a which is now the uh that call it the co yeah the co co headquarters Co headquarters right so I mean that was the era of concern where everybody would pile all the uh the food 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 lons 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 will be you know funded through town you know
034Town resources and and in the tax base so when people say our taxes are too high or you 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 heartwarming Ash it's very special that way uh we we do what we have to to do for those that that are in need and you know charity starts at home and and what else would a place to to have it continue but what within the town itself so I don't know if I answer that properly but I 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 have been done and so um building off of the holiday program
035and um you know everybody uh in that department still talks to what 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 name 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 correl also to our senior Outreach worker to make sure that the seniors are receiving the services that they need um you
036know 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 you 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 um 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 come you know it come it comes in time
037may 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're you're the you're the pathmate you're the first one to to go through so it's uh it's nice to see that progress and now where it was a path it's now a crosswalk or it's a walkway you know so people can utilize it more there more there more benefit to it so to hear all of this I mean I I sit back and I I smile and say thank you yeah thank you to everybody that's taken that torch and and and continue doing the things that we started because that those folks haven't been forgotten and that's the needy that and that's quite important for me I mean it's you
038know we were small town back then we didn't have a lot there wasn't a lot there were rich people I mean we were all you know blue collar workers they wasn't you know we weren't we weren't the Sherin we weren't you know the Wellsley or white right you know 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 were
039the ones that the overvie overview was overseers of the work that was really being done that made a difference so that was my observation when I first got on uh and I will continue that that observation because you folks are are very uh endar to me because I I've watched what you have done and made Ashland a lot better but not just not for the children for the entire Community as a whole thanks we bridged the Gap yeah and I know we're going to jump over some things but we bridged the gap between when we first started Joe I might invite you back again I mean keep on with this yeah well it's um people were buting heads departments were buting heads it was as versus then yeah attitude and when we saw and we
040looked 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 is in effect right now and I hope it stays that way you know maybe there's always a little tweak that needs to be done but all in all I mean you're talking about the finan the financial aspect right I mean and no money's that come in it's a 7030 split and the way it should be and everybody benefits by it it's not well we need this more than you 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 a great change of how budgetary thought processes being done in this community and must much better
041than other communities around us yeah I would agree I mean uh we're fortunate to have great relationships with the superintendent and school committee and the finance committee and you know Finance can be a little bit boring but it it's really kind 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 uh patch roads you can't uh do some of these projects that were doing and so yeah that was uh that was a pretty important important thing that we 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
042future 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 um you know we're taking care of things like her OPB liability which is health insurance for retirees it's a fancy name for that and then also our rainy day fund uh which has been key but uh Joe wanted you just getting back to the projects one of the things that you know you and I kind of shared a moment with was uh something that's very near and dear to my heart which is the downtown project and um I mean I can remember you and me and Carl kind of walking yeah the walk we'll call it the walk yeah down uh down Main Street and just kind of envisioning what it would look
043like with the poles underground and everything and uh what do you think about the evolution of that project we're not we're not finished yet still we have to get the polls down we're almost there and it was funny I I I was in the company of col a couple couple of days ago and uh we were we were talking about that and I said Remember the walk oh yeah the walk was it was that actually started that that movement to 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 the whole nard to beautify downtown well you know it'll be beautifying downtown get rid of the of the poisonous suon get rid get rid of the bloody we got a few
044sound effect budes here which we haven't tried yet get get rid of the bloody you know wires and hang you know telephone poles out you know put them out of s put them on the ground and that then that whole that initial discussion actually came it came to fruition and and you know within the next year or two yeah I'm I'm going to press a button you there we go there you go look at that we down down downtown and and and it's come and and people are happy with it yeah especially this past year the the holiday season oh my gosh it was incredible it was absolutely incredible yeah see all the people you know do the Holiday Stroll and get the getting the uh the business folks involved in it you know Beth
045has done a great uh a great job and yeah Beth Reynold our economic development director tell H looks so pretty oh it looks very oh and and it'll continue you you you go from one building to the next and you know hopefully we can 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 could we could all do that so but it was very very nice and uh I know Santa was very happy to see it when he came down and saw all those he he was very very impressed how Ashan get get 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
046uh Santa Santa is a really really uh you know Santa when he comes to ashle uh isite 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 know when I started here she was three years old and believe it or not she wasn't she wasn't totally convinced about Santa and uh when Santa came to town one year uh she went and got on Santa's lap and Santa knew exactly what she wanted and um I remember her getting on that lap and Santa saying oh I hear you want um I think it was like a princess Sophia the First Castle I think that's what she was into at the time and I tell you her just smile
047like this amazed look on her face and she she came out of that little Hut a Believer so um I always got a special place in my heart for for for Santa here in town um Jen what are some of the other projects that you uh that you really like and proud of I mean we've got so many we got 126 we've got the Menda 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 um a part in sort of transforming the physical part of our Community um I do love sort of programs also I think we've come a long way in our
048programs I think at the library we have a 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 and 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 path with and I think that is invaluable and I think our staff does an amazing job with that um I'm lucky enough to be part of Ashlin is United that also does programs um like breaking bread which actually Joe was at um very cool program I'm waiting for I'm waiting for it to come up again to
049do that again that was awesome a lot of fun yeah so they do sort of programs Conn intentionally connecting people that might not otherwise um cross paths and I I think if we're talking about physical projects another project super proud of is the trolley Brook Trail which you know yeah you know on its face you're thinking it's less than a mile um it was sort of the easiest piece of the Opera Charles Trail um 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 um but it's a beautiful path that you know you're weirdly sort of trans transplanted or something into the into the woods from munko road which is
050probably the most industrial I mean next to Nickerson Road off6 munko 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 um from like you said the most industrial you know you're walking not on a sidewalk to this through the street and then you end up on this beautiful path um for a little bit of a mile it's so um that project was surprisingly satisfying in terms of you know what I had envisioned and then to actually see it um and again it's the start of something that will be much much bigger that will take likely years and years and years the upper Charles Trail which we're making some progress when it happens it'll
051it'll be a beneficial you know 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 I mean to interrupt your mic the uh the programs that you talk you know that you had mentioned these programs are are essential 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 our library and they were very limited
052with what we have and you know we had a almost the size of this studio was the was the children's aspect of it which was downstairs in a musty old you know basement uh 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 activity oh yeah it it 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 mlli who her last day actually as a children's librarian was uh yesterday and uh so she's been there for over a couple of decades but Mina um Mina Jane who has been our library director now two or three years has just done an amazing job of
053bringing programs in um for sure uh I think you know one of the things I want to just kind of pivot towards is just talking about you too individually and why you got into you know public service and Joe I'll I'll ask you specifically what made you decide to run for the select board well there was a there was a a discussion that was being had in front of a select board uh well at the time a selectman board that um was actually shutting out people's opportunity to speak on a topic and I happened to be and this was this was the war Woods matter that the whole project with waren woods and it was in a discussion stage and the unfortunately the folks that were you know were on the select as Selectmen at
054the 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 elected officials so it annoyed me I can remember my father's voice telling me in my year to if you don't like what you see and if you don't do anything you part of the problem 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 because I knew it was going to be uh time consuming in in in the beginning because we all know Donna runs the manani household yeah yeah I wear the skirt I'm not I'm not I'm not ashamed to say that my my my skirt's a
055little 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 as you know campaign to run um I was very uh I was I was humbled by the support I got 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 that I sit on uh we still have that same process and um we
056all 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 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 glad that we still have citizens participation you know during our meetings right 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 were able to complete that
057and to uh the young lady sitting to my right uh Jen she was the uh brick and M of this whole project because she was the procurement officer and she did more work behind the scenes than in in front of us so and a lot of kudos to her for for the work that was done and uh we still have a couple more things left to finish on that but uh just a couple pretty soon we'll be able to dissolve that committee yes because we're all you know that's right Joe which you're the chair of I should have mentioned that at the beginning Jen kind of has the project manager and Joe as the chair of the of the building committee you know just I was a spokesperson the person that did all the work
058unlike Paul Kendall with the school committee group the school buildings uh committee this young lady was the one that did all the well Jen yeah Jen did a lot but don't uh don't discount the role that you had for sure sure she gave me she gave me the latitude to do that so thank you but uh but yeah Jen ran a tight ship on that project for sure so uh especially with especially with those people that were in the project and building the building itself right you know you had site supervisor and stuff but yeah they would come to her and Jen would make a quick phone call or too oh for sure yeah and then uh then things would happen for sure Jen what about you I mean so so just a little bit
059for those of you that know well you wouldn't know 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 L um for a while but you know you had been there for a while by the time I started in L but what what got you into public service so I think I've always been sort of driven for um Community impact uh so in in L 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
060um reach really small programs within one Department could have um I moved to the state for a number of years about seven 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 actual 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 uh all of my energy into sort of um helping transform our community and I think Ashlin has been really welcoming to me and so I feel like all the work that I tend to be behind the scenes um
061sort 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 Mima um you don't actually see what's happening on on the 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 Ashlin 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
062would 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 know 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 for for a time check Melissa Hayes here let's give her a big round of applause for uh for putting all of this together as well as wacka and Paul Bowden and Barb Chism um so I think you know I think we're going to
063wrap this episode up we're about at the 40 minute maybe for 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 gonna we're going to have an email address clocktown Chronicles asland mass.com and so what we're going to 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 clock toown Chronicles at Ashlan mass.com 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
064the 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 Ash and even some of the newer ones who have done their history uh research where was the WPA project done in Ashland so there was one WPA project one WPA 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 W what was the WPA project in Ashland and where was do it if you have the answer to that uh write us at clocktown Chronicles Ashlin mass.com uh folks
065that's going to be it for this uh this episode our first episode our inaugural episode I want to thank both of my guests Jen ball and Joe manani 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 this together and our friends at wacka uh barbach Chism 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
066know what you think about the podcast and what you would like to hear in the future uh again use that email address and uh we'll be sure to listen so um want to B everybody ad do and uh thank you very much for listening thank you [Music]