001Yeah, good evening. Thank you all for coming. This is great. Um, my name is Pat Clifford and I am a member of the steering committee for the League of Women Voters for the Actton area. And I want to welcome everybody tonight to our two 2025 municipal election candidate forum for the town of Actton. Um, as we begin, I want to thank the town manager and the municipal property staff for setting up the room for us and getting us ready, as well as Actton TV, who's behind that door over there, who is streaming this, getting it ready to be put on their YouTube channel for people to view on demand later on. And most especially, I want to thank the committee that put this event together. um Janet Adachi, Alyssa Robinson, Lindseay Tashes, Karen and John
002Sauner. Um as well as all the league helping hands who are here tonight, running questions and so forth. Um we also want to acknowledge all of the candidates who are here and thank them for running. Some of them are unopposed. All of them have agreed to be here tonight and we'll have at the end of the forum, we'll have an opportunity for you to meet with them. And if you didn't get your question answered during the forum, you can meet them face to face and have a good conversation. Um, you've stimulated a lot of conversation already in the community and we are grateful to you for stepping up. Thank you. So, we have a long tradition in the league, as you probably a lot of you know, of providing nonpartisan voter education and services, particularly
003at the local level. And we're fortunate to have an accomplished veteran of this tradition as our moderator tonight. And I'm pleased to introduce our colleague Nancy Broombomb from the Sudbury League of Women Voters who will get us through this evening. So, thank you all for coming and if you have any questions, I'll be up in the back of the room. You guys know you guys right up close to those audience. Thank you, Pat. Uh, I add my welcome to all of you and again I am from Sbury. I don't vote in this election so I have no skin in the game. Before we start, a brief review of the format and rules for tonight's forum. Candidates in the contested races for select board and school committee will each make a one minute opening statement, be
004asked as many questions as time permits, plus a rapid fire section, and then give a one-minute closing statement. Candidates in the contested race for water district commission will each make a one minute opening statement and be asked as many questions as time permits and have a one minute closing statement. No rapid fire for them. Opening statements will be in the order candidates appear on the ballot and closing statements in reverse order. I will call on candidates to answer the questions in random order. Candidates will have 60 seconds to answer each question. There will be no rebuttals. So, we have time for additional questions. Candidates may not interrupt each other and may not make personal references about other candidates. There's a timer in the front row who will hold up a 50 a 15-second warning and
005then a stop sign. You feel free to finish your thought, but don't start another one. The community was invited to submit questions by email and the league developed questions based in part on those questions most frequently asked. We will ask three of those questions and then ask written questions from the audience here tonight as we have time. We are tight on time tonight. So if you don't get your question asked, talk to the candidates afterwards. For those who may watch this program later on TV, it was recorded on April 10th, so any relevant events that occur after that date will not be reflected. Now, we will start with the select board. There are three candidates for two three-year terms. And we'll start with your opening statements of one minute each. And the first candidate will
006be Dean Charter. If you will give your opening statement. Thank you. So, my name is Dean Charter. I am uh running for my third term on the select board. I'm just completed uh two what I think are very successful terms. Uh in my background, I've uh I've worked for the town. I had worked for the town for about 40 years. Uh retiring in 2015. In the period of time between my retirement from full-time employment and getting on the select board, I served on the community preservation committee and as a trustee of the West Actton Citizens Library. I hold a masters in public administration and uh my specific areas of concern that I spend most of my time worrying about are providing uh police, fire, public works, senior services, and infrastructure projects. Thank you. And next
007opening statement for one minute from David Martin. Good evening. Thank you to all of you for uh your interest in town elections and thanks to the League of Women Voters for arranging this forum. I'm David Martin. I've been on the select board for two terms and I'm running for reelection. Actton has always has many projects in progress for facilities, historic preservation, recreation, storm water, streetscapes, etc. These make Actton a more livable place now and in the future. I work hard to make sure that we undertake what's most important, that there is outreach, to understand public input, and that the results produce the best value for our efforts. I work with anyone and everyone in an open and transparent fashion, and during my years in the board, I met with a wide variety of residents, many
008of whom uh have opinions that differ from my own. Over the past few years, I've become proficient in municipal finance. Um, it requires a constant effort to make sure the taxpayers money is efficiently and effectively used while assuring that town projects and our schools are properly funded. I'm proud that Actton has taken a leadership role in many areas to keep our community strong. I emphasize the involvement of all residents. Thank you. Thank you. Opening statement from June Lesley. Hi, I'm lived in Actton since 1978 and I've noticed the town becoming more divided. The last override was won by a narrow margin of about 40 votes. Louder, please. This was a re real wakeup call. Many residents are having some difficulty understanding all the complex issues, especially the facts and numbers involved with the expensive projects
009before us. Just as important is how and when we re we receive the completed studies and costs. We need to have enough time to review them and not be rushed to voting on them right before a town meeting. For a healthy democracy, we need trans full transparency. We need to work together so we can live together. I can make a difference. I aim to ensure that government services are available to all while working hard to keep Actton affordable. I want to ensure all residents have needed services, especially the vulnerable. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go now to questions. You'll each have 60 seconds to answer. The first question, what are the three most pressing issues facing Actton right now and what would be your first steps toward addressing them? And we'll start again with Mr.
010Charter. So, I think the uh some of those pressing issues we're dealing with uh a lot have to do with personnel costs because those are the major drivers for all of our budgets, both town and school. uh specifically health care costs uh health insurance for active duty and and retirees and we also have uh pension costs which will be going up as more and more of our employees retire. So I think what we have to do there has been some work done on looking at uh going to a different uh insurance provider. I think we have to continue to monitor that and I think we do have to continue to put money into uh in investment into a uh OPED other postemployment benefit uh pool that we can draw on later on. Seem to have
011run out of time. So, thank you Mr. Martin. Thank you. I I think the uh three most important things are the town's finances, the cost of living for our our residents, and uh what ongoing projects that the town should uh pursue. As far as finances go, it's uh constant vigilance is required to um uh to deal with the problems. It is always a challenge to um um to uh figure out the the best way of using the tax money when when we're uh when we need to shift things around or when we need to like last year ask for an override. It's um it's a very difficult thing and again requires just constant attention. Um and going along with that is the cost of living for our residents. The the housing costs in town are
012enormous and we continue to build huge houses here. Um and that that that's that's a problem. And and then finally um the select board has to choose u among the ongoing projects that we want to pursue. Um there are there's always more things to do than we can possibly do and deciding on which of those to do is is uh something that again requires a constant attention. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Miss Lassie. Would you pull your microphone a little closer to you? Sure. Well, I am most focused on remaining committed to protecting our environment. Remaining committed to protecting our environment, to make sure Actton is and remains a welcome and safe community, and to do all we can to assure affordability while supporting our public schools and accessibility. In addition, I think we
013should all support small businesses. Thank you. The next question, uh, Mr. Martin, you will answer it first. What professional or volunteer experience has has prepared you for serving on the ACT and Select Board? So, um, I I'll change that a little bit. My educational experience. So, uh, I've never practiced as a civil engineer, but my degrees in civil engineering and a lot of things the town does relate to civil engineering. You know, redesigning intersections, building, um, sewer systems, all that stuff. Um, uh, even though I did computer work my entire my entire work career, um, I'm getting a lot of mileage out of my civil engineering degree, uh, now. And then um the the thing I did immediately before being on the board was I was the chair of the train station committee for a
014decade. Um and that was a a a good um thing to get started with what was going on in town. There were many people concerned about it. There were lots of um pushing and pulling this this way and that and I had to deal um a lot with the state agency um uh to get the the result that we wanted here in Actton. Thank you. Miss Leslie, do you need the question repeated, please? Uh what professional or volunteer experience has prepared you for serving on the Actton Select Board? Well, I feel it's important that I share I have an extensive um educational background. I have um master's degrees and advanced graduate degrees in business and in counseling psychology teaching. and I've been I was a two-term president for the Mass Mental Health Counselors Association where
015we got a parody bill passed by the United State by our Senate state senate and um in addition to that I've been a small business owner I've been a crisis consultant and I feel those skills would help me a great deal in being able to serve Thank you, Mr. Charter. So, as I alluded to before, I hold a masters in public administration. During my career working for the town, I became a Massachusetts certified public procurement official. I've been a Massachusetts a certified opera since 1974, which I think helps well with some of the environmental issues that we're dealing with. In my employment with the town, I was the project manager for a number of large construction projects, including the public safety building, the renovation of this building we're in right now, and the memorial library.
016I also in my private life, I was became president of both the Massachusetts Tree Wardens and Foresters Association and the president of the New England chapter of the International Society of Arbaculture. So I deal with larger rather a larger realm than just inside actton and I continue to serve as a certified arborist uh doing consulting work. Thank you. Thank you. This next question will go first to Miss Lusley. How can you describe a time or can you describe a time you helped build consensus in a divided group? How would you bring that skill to the select board? I helped build consensus when working for the on the board of the Mass Mental Health Counselors Association uh by working closely with uh social workers who did not want to see licensed mental health counselors have the
017equivalent of uh skills and ability in job opportunities. um that ended up being quite a successful event for everyone involved and since then we maintain good relations. Um I also um have a degree in um business with a specialty in negotiation and conflict resolution. So I feel that might possibly be helpful in the future. Thank you Mr. Charter. A good example I think is uh towards the end of my employment with the town and then as a private citizen I served on the senior center study committee attempting to either build or acquire a new uh council on aging building. This is a very expensive project. Uh there were lots of conflicting uh ideas and emotions surrounding that. So uh we ended up having to pivot at one point from constructing new facility to going with
018the model that we're now quite happy with was leasing a facility down in South Aton. But at that point I was dealing with uh people had different visions for what we needed for a building and frankly some very entrenched ideas amongst lots of folks about what exactly that building should be. and I think we came up with a very good result. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Thank you. Um the uh being on the train station committee that I mentioned mentioned earlier, the when we when we started there, the MBTA wanted to um to build a uh station that was only accessible from one side of the tracks and had 300 feet of ramps on um both the center island and and the entrance. So 600 feet total. Um, and that was just unacceptable to the town
019for many reasons. Uh, uh, we we people go to the train station on both sides and walking up 300 up and down 300 ft of ramps was just not accessible for someone walking with a cane or maybe with a breathing problem. It took a long time, but we worked out the the station we have now with the the MBTA. And there were lots of lots of people who had input um neighbors around the station um and and uh the MBTA itself and and the town government. But I also should say that every single thing on the select board involves trade-offs. I mean I can't think of any that does not. And many of them are communication issues and it sometimes you have to go drill down just a little bit to get um beneath first
020first reaction and uh figure out what people are trying to say. Thank you. We'll go now to some questions that were submitted by the audience tonight. The first one is, should the town do fiscal andor water studies before bringing proposals to town meeting? And that first one on that is Mr. Charter. So I I think it's always important as part of the the development process that we be aware of all of the uh the possible complications of project. Uh as far as the water supply issues, I think that's primarily in the purview of the actton water district as certainly the town does their part as far as providing zoning bylaws that protect the water the aquifers but as far as the actual supply of the uh product itself. That would be the water district's issue.
021Uh certainly we should be aware of any fiscal impacts. Um, but I don't want to get into a situation where the town would slam the door on a possible development uh for housing, for instance, because you're going to bring more kids into the schools. Certainly, you ought to appreciate that. But then again, you should not be discriminating against families with young children. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Yes. I I assume this question actually means zoning questions before town meeting, but um uh so um uh there there is an analysis done of um of fiscal issues. It doesn't always go to the way people would like. Some people would prefer that we uh do a worst case study, but that's really not very helpful um because it never goes worst case and it's a little
022bit difficult um to figure out exactly um uh what is going to happen. You know, it it um we do our best to anticipate um the effects of the uh zoning law and the planning department takes um makes hu a huge effort to uh uh uh make make sure what we do has intended unintended consequences. Um so and and I agree with Dean that the you know the um the uh water issues are really up to the water district. Um, and if the the the water district needs to engage the town on something, we're we're certainly open to that. Thank you, Miss Miss Lesley. Could you please repeat the question? Yes. Should the town do fiscal and or water studies before bringing proposals to town meeting? Absolutely. Absolutely. I was here when we had an
023issue with the Grace Chemical Company and since then I believe we've been on a super fund and we are still experiencing difficulties with our water supply and that especially concerns me to have as much information as possible so people will be well informed and be able to vote. vote based on facts. There's always of course last minute changes that need to be done and that should be taken into consideration. Thank you. Another question from the audience and this one will go first to Mr. Martin. What is your opinion on what should happen with the West Actton Citizens Library? So I I have to say first of all that you know when we when we started talking about the West Actton Citizens Library a few years back um there were probably at least five different opinions
024on the board as to of the details of that and we've worked through all those and for the past year the library trustees of both um uh uh both uh libraries have been working together meeting together making decisions together and that is working really well. I should say that that combined trustee board essentially acknowledges what really exists and that the the the libraries have been operating together for a really long time. Um and acknowledging that and and making sure that it's efficient at we've been able to provide better service in the la last few years and more regular service. Thank you Miss Lesley. I actually differ with David. I feel that we should respect the original intent of the beneficiate benefit um sorry uh benefactor who provided us with this cute little cozy library. I
025do not see where we have to make changes, especially if those changes are causing extra costs for count town council to try to resolve why the uh library should be combined. I feel that the um it costs more now than it would have had it stayed the way it was. and that we could benefit from not only having a wonderful, beautiful memorial library, but also get to enjoy the small library as it is. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Charter. So, I was able to observe firsthand uh as a trustee of the West Citizens Library the issues that were going on down there. The problem we had is the building was so small and the budget was so small. Uh it did not have critical mass. It could not acquire enough books. It could not properly
026staff the the library. We had one librarian that worked about 32 hours a week. If she was absent for any reason, the library had to close. Relying on volunteers might sound like a good idea, but frankly it's not very effective. It's not a reliable solution. I think there are some serious issues with uh looking at confidentiality amongst the patrons if you're using volunteers as opposed to professionals. So I have no question in my mind but that the model that has been worked out now um running it as a branch of the Actton Memorial Library provides better more secure services to the public. Thank you. Uh one more question and we'll start with Miss Lesley. Are there changes you would make to the town's existing policy on immigration given the situation at the state and national
027levels? I feel that it's important to support our governor in the decisions made by her position in the state. Mr. Charter, so the town now has a a policy involving uh immigration and the interactions which our employees can have with uh immigration customs enforcement. Um although I might differ with some of the concepts behind that, I have no interest at all in attempting to change that. I do think that uh immigration primarily should be considered a federal issue and again I agree with Ms. Leslie that we should support that operation. Uh you can't have it both ways. uh people in the past have said, you know, the uh that the state should take it over. Uh certainly immigration enforcement is not a state issue and it's not a local issue. It's a federal issue. Thank
028you. Thank you. And now we go to the rapid fire round. Can I can I answer that as well? See, I knew I I do that all the time. Yes, please. Thank you. Um thank you. So, for people who don't know, um the town has a policy now of not asking anyone of about their immigration status. So, if we um are asked by someone for someone's immigration status, we don't know. Um and um you won't be asked if you're by the police or by someone in the finance department when you pay your taxes or anything like that. And we also will not um uh act as an um agent for the federal government unless there is a lawful action to do so. So if we are asked if the uh uh the federal you know
029ICE asks our police to do something um if they have a lawful warrant we'll of course follow the law. Um if they don't they need to follow the law. Okay. Now we will go to the rapid fire round. My apologies, Mr. Martin. Uh, respond with only yes, no, a number, or no opinion. No elaborating. Still going to do this in random order. Question one. Do you support the proposed Department of Public Works building plan? Mr. Charter? Yes. Mr. Martin? Absolutely. Miss Lesley? Not yet. Question number two, will you commit to holding regular office hours, Mr. Barton? Uh, no, Miss Lesley. Yes, Mr. Charter. I'm always available. That's more than one word. How many select board meetings have you attended this year, Miss Lesley? over 10. Mr. Charter, all of them except one. Mr. Martin, all
030of them. The final rapid fire question. Would you aim to strengthen Actton's partnerships with neighboring towns, the state, and regional agencies to address shared challenges? Mr. Charter? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Miss Lesley? Yes. Now we go to one minute closing statements from each of you in reverse order from the opening statements. And if in case you didn't remember, Miss Leslie, you go first. Thank you. Hi, I would like to invite anyone who's interested to sit down with me for an open discussion about who I am and why I'm running for the select board. Let me share some of my education and professional background. as a registered nurse, a licensed crisis therapist, a businesswoman, as well as a hostage negotiator, and forensic psychologist for the Mass Department of Corrections. I've been a business owner as well
031as a um many other positions in my life and how these positions have equipped me to make crucial decisions in the past and how they can help the town. Now, as a grandmother, I certainly recognize the need for an excellent education, especially in the exceptional schools which we have. And as a cancer survivor, the need for strong government support. Let's respect all our residents and their ability to make the best decisions with their votes by making sure all are as well informed and understand the implications of their decisions for both now and in the future. For more information, please take my brochure at beginning at the open door and visit my website juneforactton.weebly.com and vote for June Leslie for the select board. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Yes, as I mentioned in my opening
032statement, public sector progress takes a take a long long time uh to conceive them, gather feedback, design, fund and implement them. focus is required to make make sure our efforts are effective. I have patience for the public process. Things take a long time, but I I can deal with that and I like working with with people to make things happen. My my goal is to continue to have Actton be a great place to live. I appreciate your support. Tell your friends to vote on April 29th. Thank you, Mr. Charter. So, I certainly uh understand the the issues of the town. I've lived in the town the entire my entire life. I've watched this town grow from a population of 5,000 to 25,000. I've seen lots of changes. Uh certainly some impacts on the environment, but
033certainly this is a much more vibrant and interesting community now than it was when I was growing up. And I'd like to think that I've uh participated in that and encouraged it. I've had extensive experience with running major projects for the town and I understand how long those projects take. As Mr. Martin referred to, uh an average project takes about 10 years from start to finish. So I I've got the uh the patience and the endurance to see those things through. I would encourage everyone to vote me back in for one more term. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you all for running. A round of applause for [Applause] their And now I'll ask the candidates for school committee to come take their seats. Uh, which is it has wheels. Oh my goodness. All right,
034we have three candidates for two seats for school committee. We're going to start with the opening statements. A one minute opening statement from each candidate. Starting with Lisa [Music] Adel. Good evening everyone. I'm Lisa Adel and I have a secret between you, me, and these walls. Public speaking is not my forte. But I am here because I truly believe in the position that I'm running for and the need for someone such as myself to be here. I'm I'm here because I have two kids. I'm a former high school science teacher and current vice president of Conan PTO. I am here because of my firm commitment to supporting our schools during what is about to be a very challenging time. By now, many of you may be aware of the proposed idea of district reorganization. During
035this process, it is critical that we have people like myself who can be strong contributors to the school committee. This is after all a team effort and we need people with excellent interpersonal skills who can reach out to community members and listen with empathy and understanding. We need creative thinkers with the ability to objectively analyze data. We need someone who can collaborate with others and can always bring the group back to our shared values. When thinking about our shared values, I want everyone to know that I'm committed to policies that help our students thrive, celebrate diversity, and are culturally responsive, ensure equity, sorry, and inclusive, and protect marginalized groups. Thank you. I forgot to mention there are timers here in the front row. Oh, sorry. Uh, Mr. Cody, Glenn Cody, is this microphone okay for
036everyone? Okay, good. Hello everyone. Uh, my name is Glen Cody. I'm an advocate. I'm an activist. And I went from failing just about every class in middle school to graduating Magnaum Lah with a computer science degree at UMass Lowel. And what made that turnaround possible was the dedicated support and mentorship I received from teachers and educators in my life. During college, I worked as a writing tutor with students from all across the globe. And after graduating, I worked as a special education teaching assistant at Wayland High School. So now I'm called to serve on the school committee to help best serve our community to the best of my ability. And I believe we have to address the moment we're in right now is that these are not normal times for our community. This is the
037fourth straight year of budget cuts and public education itself is under attack at the national level. As Americans, I believe we value public education and we value ensuring that our community here in Actton is as welcoming as and belonging in a place as possible for everyone in town and we can't go backwards on our values and we can and build must build a better future for all of our students in Actton. I'm Glen Cody. I humbly ask for one of your two votes. Thank you. Thank you. And Jason Fitzgerald. When someone becomes a parent, their world changes in an instant. Like that, your priorities are completely rearranged. You are no longer the first most important person in your life, or maybe the second, depending on who does your meal prep. If you're a parent or
038primary care caregiver, you know exactly what I'm saying. You will do whatever you can that's in your power. You'll move whatever obstacle or assist with whatever challenge, make whatever sacrifice to provide your kids and make their world the best world it can be for them. My name is Jason Fitzgerald. I'm running for school committee because the last four years, Actton has had to make the uncomfortable decision to cut and cut deeply the teaching staff that serves my four kids and is responsible for educating them for the future. I cannot just sit by, watch this happen, and not get engaged. I could list the variety of child-facing and organizational support positions that I've held, but they pale to the impact that I've seen the vaunted teachers of this school district have on the four most important
039people in my life. I'm running to reduce future cuts, work in whatever capacity to increase revenue, and do whatever I can to support the teachers and what they need to provide my kid and every other kid under their purview the best world that they can have. Thank you. We go down to the questions. You'll each have one minute to answer each question. Uh the first one goes starts with Miss Adel. Over the past few months, the district leadership and school committee have been discussing a restructuring of the schools in the district. What impact will this have on the community and and educators in the district? And what efforts will you make as to support all parties in this decision-making process? I think this could potentially have a profound impact. It's, you know, when Peter le
040has spoken about this, this is a once in a 50-year kind of opportunity to better utilize the resources that we have and figure out an optimal solution that is best for our students, our educators, and our families. If elected, I would plan to do everything that I could to make sure that there's proper community outreach um for all of the stakeholders, you know, parents, the kids, educators, all of the people who are going to be impacted by this. And I would want to make sure that as a team player that it's really important to me to work with all of the other people and to come up with ideas together and use my strong analytical skills to come up with a solution that's best and that's really reflective of what the community Thank you. Thank
041you, Mr. Cody. Yes. So, I Lisa's exactly right that this is a once in a 50-year moment and we have an opportunity to help craft the best education possible for our kiddos within the next 50 years. Um, this is going to be a difficult process, but we can do it. And I think that how we do that, it depends on how much we're willing to accept community input, engage with it proactively and and progressively in a way that everyone feels that their concerns are heard and valued, in a way that we maintain respect. because this is going to be a tough conversation, but I think being able to set the tone about how we are able to engage with the community will be critical of this process. Specifically, I think that we need to look
042at some buildings um when we're looking at how our current resources are being allocated to make sure that we're utilizing them most effectively for our kiddos. We need to make sure that we're not uh being wasteful in the terms of like if student population is going down, how many buildings do we have and where where does staff go? Another thing we can look at is grade banding. Um so those are some specifics for us. Okay, Mr. Fitzgerald. Yeah. So, um I think this is a great opportunity. I mean, we've had open enrollment in the district for a long time. It's been a tenant of of the active box experience. um people move here because of it. Um unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it and the the differentiation between the schools has
043been minimized and I I think that by and large it's better for the students. Um and so it's come to a we're coming to a point here where it's not really um cost-effective to maintain the open enrollment anymore. So we need to look at it. It's an awesome opportunity now here. We can create some efficiencies in our district. We can create some other opportunities. We have open spaces in our classroom because enrollment's gone down. So, we can find a better way to utilize that space. We can maybe we can bring in other programs, um, other specific educational programs that we could bring into town to, you know, offset some of our costs or maybe bring in some revenue if we can sublet that space. So, I think it's just a it's this is a fantastic
044opportunity to remake our our district in a way that it brings our community together, brings our neighborhoods together, let the kids, you know, get a better experience. I mean, they have a great experience now. We can only make it better. Thank you. Next question will go first to Mr. Cody. What specific experiences in your professional, volunteer, or personal life have prepared you to serve on the school committee? And how would these experiences inform your approach to addressing the district's current challenges? Mr. Cody. So, I'm an advocate and organizer at heart and I help make sure that we had the budget we're working with this time around so that we're instead of what would have been a devastating 80 cuts of staff member positions, we're dealing with 20. And that's still incredibly difficult. But I helped
045organize and spoke at our town meeting to make sure that we have the budget we're working with and that it was as robust as possible given the constraints we're working with. So that's one qualification. Um, and as make getting on the school committee itself, I believe that we need to be collaborative team players with everyone in town. my theater directing background and with a mixture of computer science degrees is definitely a interesting mixture that helps with that. Um, I think that we all have to make sure that we're being proactive, we're collaboratively engaged, we're helping each other, we're not yet we're not talking at each other, we're working with each other, and I think between all that, there's plenty that we can do as a community together collectively to make sure that we're ensuring the
046best quality education for all of our kiddos going forward. Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald. So, so I have four kids in the district. um two two or three teenagers. So, I think that's pretty much qualifications on its own. Um one of them I taught even how to drive. So, uh I've earned my stripes there. Now, uh all joking aside, um all four of my kids are completely individual personalities and it's amazing to me. And what's the most amazing part is they all have a wildly different experience in coming up through the Actton Boxboro School District. So, my experience there having that experience watching them grow and thrive. I have one that's graduating this year and going off to college. I can't wait. It's super exciting. Um and and then we've I was a part of uh
047the Douglas community. So I've watched that old building get replaced by uh Boardwalk campus which has had growing pains, a lot of challenges there. So that's been a wonderful experience. And also I've been a professional for like 25 years. So um I'm a manager at work. I have to work with personnel. I have to work with budgets. I have to work with project plans. I have to work with personnel and and complications there. So a lot of personal experience there. I've also served on the actton box school board. I know challenges with the the soccer school board soccer board um with the P and the PTO for Douglas. So I know there's PTO challenges and how they interact in the district and all that with each other. So there's a lot of different moving parts
048in this district and it's all providing us our students wonderful experience. Thank you, Miss Adel. I am a former educator and I've actually had um the immense pleasure and benefit of getting to work in multiple school districts. So, what's kind of cool about this is I've been able to see how different policies and different ways of organization have impacted students and being able to observe those different things have allowed me to gain a lot of insight and experience of not only teaching but seeing what it looks like to the students in those classrooms. And just to give some examples of places that I've been um when I was um in graduate school at Simmons, I had to have rack up a certain amount of uh like observation hours. It's called pre-practicum. Bill Ricka and then
049I did my practicum at Newton North. I've worked at Chumsford. I've worked on Curtis Toughs alternative high school in Medford. I've been in a number of places and I've seen how a lot of people have done that and that's going to really be helpful in what I'm bringing to the table. Thank you. The next question goes first to Mr. Fitzgerald. Superintendent Light has stated that the required staff reductions for next year will affect students with the greatest needs. What alternatives should we be considering to avoid accelerating the rising achievement gaps for students with disabilities, low-income students, and English language learners? Mr. Fitzgerald. C can you that was a long question. Can you repeat it? Let me read the question part of it. Okay. What alternatives should we be considering? Alternatives to staff reductions to avoid
050accelerating achievement gaps for students with disabilities, low-income students, and English language learners. Okay. Okay. Thank you. So, for the this is my third time running for this position. the last two years I sat here in the rapid fire part and um I I was kind of an outlier to the questions as far as like should we have open enrollment um and I said no it should be uh and that kind of stood out it definitely I stood out in that answer but the reason and I was also I was also um critical of the override last year the together for actton initiative and it it wasn't because I didn't support the teachers it was because we were making decisions that were short-term answers and so we we need to be we need this restructuring that's
051happening now should have happened years should have started years ago. We kicked the can down the road too long and so now we're in this position. So you asked to answer the question um absolutely we need to make some changes. We need to follow through thisru restructuring plan and make that work and make that with an eye for addressing the the the the students that are in most need multil- language learners and those and those students. Miss Aldi Aldo [Applause] At the end of the day, it's people who help people. And the most valuable people and the people that we really need to be thinking about are the staff, are the teachers, are the people who are facing the students every single day. When we talk about closing achievement gaps, it's not just the head
052of the classroom, it's not just the teacher, it's all of the people that are part of this process. Um, as somebody who worked with a lot of students with IEPs, while I would like to think I had a profound impact, and I believe that I did, um, it was a lot of the assistance in the classroom and it and it's so important. It's just incredibly critical that we keep as many people as we possibly can. So, when we're thinking about the current budget crisis, we're going to definitely have to reorganize and do what we can because we can lose a building, we can't lose people. And so I want to try to keep as many staff as possible. Thank you, Mr. Cody. I concur with Lisa about the final sent statement. We definitely can afford
053to lose a building, but staff have to be protected with everything we have. Um Peter's exactly right. These cuts will affect student outcomes and we're already having a difficult time maintaining our current level of education with the current resources we have provided. And we have a duty to make sure that we're doing everything we can to serve our kids as effectively as possible. So, I believe that staffing cuts have to be avoided as as much as possible. So, I'm proud that I worked on override last year and spoke out of town meeting. I believe that was the right decision. That was the right thing to do. And we need to make sure that we have as robust of a funding model as possible. And that includes advocating at the state and federal level for funding
054reform, which thank which grateful at is frankly insufficient. And I think that we need to our legislators that represent us are doing a fantastic job, but there's always more that can be done. And I'm happy to help lead advocacy efforts to get the funding that we deserve from the state. And I believe that my qualifications as someone who's worked in special education as a TA and worked as a writing tutor for English language learners is certainly perspective that is valuable to this. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go now to questions from the audience tonight. Uh the first one will go to Miss Otto and is what is your opinion of the school calendar and how it impacts our multicultural community? I've been waiting for this one. I am very passionate and move this mic closer.
055I think this is incredibly important. I think everyone deserves to have their holidays celebrated because what we do and the position that we put families in when their holidays are not included in the calendar is they take off time from school. They miss school because those celebrations are valuable. They are sacred and they are special to their families. And each and every single student deserves to have that time, that sacred time with their family to have those celebrations. And we shouldn't force kids to miss school or have to make up work because that immediately puts them behind, puts them at a disadvantage. And I think we need to be thinking about all families when we formulate policies around holidays and celebrations. That's it. Mr. Cody. Well, I'm not as gifted in my recollection of every
056single holiday we do represent, but what I do believe is that we deserve to have as welcoming and belonging a space for our community as possible with the amount of diversity that we have in the in our town. Um, so I support the I support the current calendar. I think that having as much cultural competency and how we schedule our classrooms is supportive. um at UMass LOL, one thing that uh was a priority for us was um was making sure that like do finals have to be on Ramadan when you're fasting and you know there are things to consider like that. So we want to have cultural competence. We want to make sure we're being a belonging welcoming place for everyone in town and I believe our calendar can reflect that. Thank you Mr. Fitzgerald.
057Yeah. So I and this I think I would I would like to take the leadership from the teachers, right? And see what they want to do. And um we have a short summer and it's because of all the the holidays. And I don't that short summer is not just for the students, it's also for the teachers. Now again, I'm not sitting here saying that we should only ser celebrate certain holidays. But I do think we could have a more nuanced or or more clever we have very smart people in this district. We could have a a a better way of doing it. we could have a more interesting way of celebrating, letting people celebrate but without having these calendar be so long. Um, what does it look like? I don't know. Maybe it looks like
058we have every every student gets five free days a year that they get to take off, no questions asked, right? We already have a policy in the district where students aren't supposed to be have tests on any of those holidays. They're not supposed to be have homework on the day before the holidays or around the holidays. So, we're already acknowledging them outside of the school. But, do we really need to have all these days off? I I just think we could do it better way where we can keep that calendar a little shorter not just for the students though for the teachers as well. Thank you. The next question and it will go first to Mr. Cody. What is the what is the role of the school committee in addressing issues of racial and social
059equity? I believe we play a very vital role in that. We craft policy. We make sure we lead diversity and inclusion initiatives. Um, we need to make sure that we're doing everything we can to support all of our community members and we need to address that, hey, not everyone in our district is doing well across the board and we should acknowledge that reality and meet kids where they are at, not where we wish they were all the time. And sometimes that means that we provide more specialized attention to subgroups of our student population to provide as much diligent care and support as we possibly can. So, the of course that has to do with our racial inequity initiatives. We have to be able to support all of our kiddos. And sometimes it can feel isolating
060to be a to to be to feel like that you don't have the support you need. And I think that being able to be a strong vocal supporter of uh every community member in our town, every every cultural aspect that we have, being able to vocally support that, I believe is a strong responsibility of our school committee members. Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald. Yeah. So, of of course, the first thing comes with communication and understanding and listening. We have to understand what the challenges face the different demographic groups, right? Um I kind of struggle with the the idea that different racial groups have different um you know, we're going to break this up along race. That feels a little gross to me. If you want to talk about like I'm sure there are people of all
061races that have all different sort of economic needs and really that's what we want to look at is make sure that every student is getting whatever they really need to thrive here, right? Um, do we need to focus special attention on a special on a specific racial group? I I I don't know. I I don't have those numbers. I don't know. I do know there are challenges with some of the um, you know, you know, some of the attendance, but again, it just feels gross for me to sit here and tell racial groups what they need. I don't have the data for that. I will say this though, we do need to make sure that every student has every opportunity to succeed. and everything that I've seen and as I look at the ABRSH graduation
062page for the graduates of 2025, I see all kinds of students going to all kinds of university and it's super exciting and to know that our district is sending them there. It's it's it's a really it's an awesome thing that we do. Real feather in our cap. Thank you, Miss Otto. Um I'd like to take a moment just to echo, you know, what Glenn is saying. Absolutely. We have the power to impact equity with policy and it's important when we're making policies uh to work towards creating more culturally responsive education and making sure one of the things that um our district does and one of the initiatives that I've really praised is how we have worked towards that and this goes to holidays. This look goes to um looking at the data behind performance with
063um different marginalized groups and really checking in on everyone and seeing how our more vulnerable populations of students are doing. And I I think it's important to constantly be striving towards with our policies how we can improve that by looking at the data and asking our educators and talking to everyone. Thank you. Okay, now it's time for your favorite thing, the rapid fire section with uh four questions. Please respond with only yes, no, a number or no opinion. No elaborating. Uh, still in random order. Question one. With the schools projecting a 6.33% annual operating expense increase beginning in fiscal 2027, should the schools get a larger share of the tax bill than the twothirds they've traditionally gotten? Mr. Fitzgerald. abstain. I think no opinion. M Idol pass. Mr. Cody, school should have more money. Yes.
064How many school committees meetings have you attended in the past six months? Miss, does virtual count? Yeah. Okay. I have watched every single school committee meeting for the last two years via YouTube. Thank you guys for posting that. Mr. Cody, about five or six I've been lo I've been several. Mr. Fitzgerald, several. Number three. Should the Actton Boxboro School District provide free all day kindergarten no matter the cost? Mr. Cody? Yes. Mr. Fitzgerald? No. Miss Aldi? Adil and um pass. And the last one, would you consider opening the school system up to students from outside the district? Mr. Fitzgerald, yes, Mr. Miss. Yes. Mr. Cody. Yes. Aha. Now we will go to your one minute closing statements in the reverse order from the opening statements. And if you didn't remember, Mr. Merrell, you go first.
065So for the last three years now, I've answered this question about all day Kay and I've said no every time. The fact of the matter is all day Kay has gone up over that time. Not only that, but our district has in its budget the fact that we can if on a need base parents can families can send their child to all day. All day K is a fraction of the cost of what all day all day daycare costs. Right? So that question is is it's not genuine. Right? And I can come up here and I say no. I'm not going to say we should have all day K at the cost of another of this of an arts program in one of the elementary schools or of a science teacher at the at the
066high school. Right? There are costs and there's benefits to everything we do in this district. We have to be aware of that. We have to we have every dollar accounted for. If we take $1 for one spot, it goes to the next spot. I'm not saying we don't need more dollars. Everybody knows we need more dollars. We need to keep advocating for Beacon Hill. But we also need to understand that we have one of the best school districts in the country in the nation, right? And we need to support that. We need to keep driving for that, right? We all need to keep pushing for that. I we we should have 15 candidates up here with the way the the fact that we've had teachers cuts in the last four years. So, I'm here because
067I want to improve the school district and I I want it to continue to be the best that it can be. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cody. So, I want to extend my gratitude to the League of Women Voters. I want to extend my gratitude to all the community members that attended tonight and are watching online. I'm grateful to each and every one of you and you are all what makes democracy possible. And we're dealing with several crises at the moment. The national stage is frightening to say the least. We're dealing with egregious budget constraints based on um the fiscal realities we're working with. The state and the federal government need to do more to ensure that we're working as effectively to fund our schools. And in the meantime, there are several initiatives we can
068do on the ground level here as we're implementing the resources we're working with. So, and of course there are things that are not going to be able to happen overnight. Kindergarten we should certainly work towards um and with as much a robust funding model as possible. And I am very proud to say that I worked on passing override last year to make sure that our schools got the funding that they needed this year. And there's still more work to do. There's still more funding we need to get. and I'm happy to help lead that effort. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Utle. I do want to quickly circle back to the kindergarten thing because I think it's important. Um technically, yes, I believe it should be free. I think it's ridiculous that we parents
069have to pay. While it is a lot less than daycare as mentioned, um I still wish it were free. What I would like to say is that um they have been working to reduce the cost of kindergarten. Um, so that has been slowly going down each year, but yes, I would like to have it as an eventual goal, you know, at a after the dust is settled from reorganization and um find appropriate funds to be able to find a way to make that free. And then I also want to say as part of my closing remarks, I agree with Glenn, thank you so much to the League of Women Voters for having us. We truly appreciate you. I really enjoy having conversations with people one- on- one and I would encourage everyone to go to
070my website lisa.org to read more about me. I practically wrote a book there. Thank you so much. Thanks to all of you. A round of applause, [Applause] please. Thank you for running. It's not easy. Uh now the candidates for water district commission come to the table. We have two candidates for one three-year term on the water district commission. And you'll each do an opening statement of one minute each. And we'll start with Barry Rosen. Good evening. For 23 years, I have served the community on water issues, advising the Actton Water District and the Actton Select Board. For the last six years, I have served as a water district commissioner and a member of the town's water resources advisory committee. My background is in science, education, and business. I spent most of my career in leadership
071roles in Fortune 100 companies where I collaborated with industry leaders. As commissioner, I addressed critical issues such as securing emergency funding for the PAS contamination remediation and promoting our water supply through strategic protecting our water supply through strategic purchases of land bordering our wells. I'm proud to have achieved senior discounts uh for an intermissionable agreement and an intermissionable agreement uh to explore additional water resources. I am I am dedicated to supplying you with clean safe water now and for the future and John Peterson. The Actton Water District has supplied water to the residents of Actton for more than a century. My wife Cheryl and I have moved to Actton in 1986, almost 40 years ago. Our two children, Erica and Jack, were both educated in AB K to2. For myself, I've been a scientist in
072the field of chemistry for more than 50 years, earning an undergraduate degree in chemistry from MIT and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. I spent most of my career in drug development, building expertise in analytical and process chemistry, as well as a good working knowledge of toxicology. I've led discovery research and I'm an inventor on more than 40 patents. I managed global drug development programs with annual budgets of billions of dollars, including management of commercial operations. My managerial and technical background are well matched to the challenges of evaluating water quality standards, delivering highquality water, and continuing uh contributing to the governance of the Actton water district. My service as a school committee member seven years and on the acting water district finance committee for two years qualify me to become a water commissioner.
073Thank you. Thank you. And we'll go to questions again. You'll each have a minute to answer each question. Um and start the first question will go to Mr. Rosen. Why have you decided to run for this office? Thank you for the question. I believe the water district is at some critical decision-making times today. Uh we have looked ahead and as you know climate change unless you're ones in denier it seems to be real to all of us. So we have to look out with a long horizon for many years to figure out will act have enough water in the future and how we might be able to secure our water future. We are examining sources both inside and outside of Actton based on the skill set that each of us has and the knowledge that
074each of us has developed over many many years. I believe that my experience for advising the water commissioners and advising the select board uh on water issues qualifies me to understand water so that I can continue to serve the people of our town. Thank you, Mr. Peterson, why are you running? The water district has undergone tremendous change, you know, over the last 20 years. 20 years ago, the water district was all about water, um, distribution. Supply was just we hook up the wells and we pump away. Um, that's changed dramatically. And with that change, um that focus on supply, the need to build construction to make capital investments, the water district, um still exists, you know, a little bit off to the side. You know, so many people in town are not aware of what
075the water district does and are not engaged in an operation that has an $8 million budget. When we had our annual meeting um a couple weeks ago, we had 12 people in the audience. That's just wrong. Um I worked with the commissioners this year and last year to make an opening presentation to that annual meeting, you know, as part of the effort to uh more engage the community uh in our water issues going forward. I have the technical background. I have the governance experience to be a strong contributor to the water district commission. Thank you. And this question will go first to Mr. Peterson. Please offer examples of how you have improved transparency for residents and voters in your roles at the water district. Currently, I'm uh on the finance committee. So, the finance committee,
076just like the finance committee for the town, is an advisory body. So, when I got on the um the finance committee and we were preparing for the annual meeting two years ago, I said, "Well, what are we going to do to help explain to the voters what's going on?" And they're like, "Well, we don't do a presentation." I'm like, "What do you mean you don't do a presentation?" Um, and so we agreed that it made sense to have a financial presentation uh last year to help organize uh the meeting a little bit better and inform voters about what they ultimately were going to have in the articles. Um likewise, we did that again this year. There are still things that the water district can do better. The water district warrant for people have seen it
077contains no explanation of the articles. It's just like here's the article. It's just like the article that's sitting on the ballot today that says we're going to build a DPW building, but doesn't really tell you anything about how much money you're going to spend. That's not the right way to do business. We can do better. Thank you, Mr. Rosen. The Warren District over since I've been a commission the last six years has made substantial changes in and I've increased, excuse me, they have increased their outreach to the community substantially. We attend many community events. We provide information to the schools. As a matter of fact, we make sure that the schools understand what water is all about. We have a complete curriculum that meets the Massachusetts uh science the Massachusetts Department of Education science and
078technology framework for lesson plans. We provide these free of charge to the actton bucks schools so the generation growing up understands it. We believe we're supplying a great deal of transparency and a great deal of information and we are continuing to do so based on the programs we have continuing to roll out. Thank you. This one goes first to Mr. Rosen. Has the water district gone far enough in addressing the PAS the forever chemicals issues facing the district? Are there additional steps you think the water district should be taking? That's a very good question. Um, we do believe that our water district is ahead of most other water providers in this state. We're one of the first to react to the discovery of PAS and our water system. We have completed one plant. Uh, after
079testing the waters, we we knew we would had a good solution for the first plant. The first plant is online and there is no detectable feas coming out of the north act plant. The other two plants were engineered to make sure that we cleaned up that water too. We believe we will shortly have uh central actton and uh south act online and that will complete PAS removal for the entire water district. We have also joined a a uh a lawsuit suing DuPont and numerous others to try to get some of the money back that the community has spent on PAS. We also do lobby and are working with state and federal officials to see what can be done. Thank you, Mr. Peterson. Um I'd like to agree with Mr. Rosen that the district was very
080proactive in addressing PAS and that served the district and and all the citizens of the community. um very well. Um I think the challenge, you know, of bringing on the additional plants uh is an important one. I was just at the New England Waterworks Association meeting um this past week, you know, and one of the comments was made was well should we, you know, drive PAS to non-detect or would it be okay to have it at 2 PPT? So without getting into all the technical details around that, um I commented I said, "You're using the word non-detect as though it were zero." And today, you know, we don't know what that number is, but at some point in the future, we'll know that number. It'll be 04 PPT. So, there needs to be a public
081discussion about the PAS risk like every other risk that puts that in context and says here's a level that both we can reach, you know, for an affordable cost and represents, you know, a reasonably low risk level. Risk will never be reduced to zero. That's a really important community conversation that we need to have as we go forward. Thank you. Questions from the audience. I'm going to ask you get a little closer to the mic so the cable can pick you up. Um, this one will go first to Mr. Peterson. What is the most important budgetary challenge that the water district faces? The water district is very interesting uh from the perspective that it doesn't live under two and a half. So I think you all are very well aware of the challenges that the
082school and the town fa face because they live in two and a half. So I think um the water district um can obviously bring to our meeting you know whatever rate we want to. Um but should the water district do that independent of everything else going on in town? And my answer to that question is no. The water district should be sensitive to the total demands on the community. And so I think the challenge where we're not constrained by two and a half is for the water district to recognize those other community needs and decide you know what we can do on the part of the water district um to minimize you know the financial demands on the town. Thank you Mr. Rosen on budget budgetary challenges. Thank you. Um the water district does not
083make unnecessary investments. We just don't. We are regulated, heavily regulated. We are a utility. Our job is to provide services to you, our community. We all live in our community. What are the budgetary challenges? The biggest budgetary challenge in my view is that we have a big unknown. We don't know what it's going to cost us to operate the new PAS plants. It's never been done before. We don't know how often. For example, we will have to change out the media that is capturing all the PAS. So far, we now realize we have to change the media out of the first plant. Will it require one change a year, two changes a year? We don't know. That's a challenge. We also don't know the new regulations that the federal or state government will provide us.
084So there we have challenges, a big unknown. Okay. And Mr. Peterson, did did I ask did did I lose track of No, we got you. Sorry, I lost track of my questions, but I lost this one from the audience. How should the district involve the public in decisions to connect to N MWR and you for the people that don't know, why don't you define NWR before you start and that was Mr. Rosen. Define what it is. Yeah. Just so people This is a very short explanation. The MWR is an agency created by the state. It stands for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. It's the organization that absorbed what some of you that have been living here a while knew as the MMDC, the Metropol Metropolitan District Commission, which was the community that provided sewer and
085water to the primarily the city area of Boston. It now has a charter to supply anyone in the state that wants to hook up to it. Okay. Now, so now we'll start your question. Is that enough explanation? Is is how how how should the district involve the public in decisions to connect to that body? Okay. It is the opinion uh of all the commissioners. We've discussed this in detail that and that we will gather information on the feasibility of using the MWR. There are many moving parts to it including expense, the logistics of getting the water out to the actton conquered area and then what would it cost us to connect. So we believe that the public has to be intimately involved. Our plan is as we get the information from a consultant that we
086have formed a consortium of neighboring towns including conquered westward most of the neighboring towns have signed on to our intermunicipal agreement. We will gather that information and have outreach to the community. Ultimately you are going to make the decision. The board is not going to take a decision without direct input from you the community. Mr. Peterson, let me begin with a shout out to Green Actton because this MWR question is part of the Green Actton uh Q&A. So, anybody who hasn't gone through that, please do uh visit Green Actton and uh you can see some more color on this question about the MWR in terms of that decision. It's a long ways off. Um David Martin talked about the fact that these public projects take a long time. something the scope of this is easily
08715 to 20 years into our future. The other thing that's important to realize is that ACT will never um get a direct connection to the MWR. This will involve our neighboring communities. And so the commissioners um have wisely, you know, this past um year arranged for an inter municipal study to see what will happen because we're not just going to connect up actton, we'll connect up more. I think the other thing that's important to recognize is that there's a decision that comes up about should we have sole supply from MWR, should we have retain our current supply or should we have a hybrid supply? My personal belief is we should have a hybrid supply. Thank you. And this is your last question. What is your opinion for how the new bedrock well can or will
088be used in a water supply? Start with Mr. Peterson. I I think that um you know, Mr. Rosen commented that we don't know exactly what's going to happen with our uh PASS operations. We need to gain some experience. So, until we really start to use the bedrock well, um we won't know with certainty what the production of that well will be or the quality of the water from that well will be. The belief is that we will both have, you know, a good source in terms of quantity and that the quality will be excellent. If that is true, then we will use that mixed with our other supplies. And again, for people who haven't followed the details of the operations of the well fields, we actually do rotate the source of supply um through the
089year in order to recharge wells um and make most best use of the water that we have in the aquifer. Mr. Rosen. We actually have drilled and have been granted permission from the state, the the Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates us. We have drilled two and have certified and commissioned two new bedrock wells. They're in Center Actton uh on the large purchase of protective land that the Actton Water District uh purchased. Uh some of you may know it as the former Conit property uh that sits in the middle of Central Actton. Uh those wells are connected to the central act treatment plant which is waiting for PAS to be installed. Um those wells will serve to one provide additional water to us but also allow us to rest wells. We traditionally try to rest
090wells because if you run a well all the time, it can literally suck gravel and sand into it. So we rest well, let it recover, and then we started again. Those wells add to the number of wells to allow us to rotate. Thank you. And now we'll go to the closing statements and the reverse order from the opening statements. So Mr. Peterson, you go first. One minute. Thank you. So you've heard now you know from select board candidates, school committee candidates and and candidates for water commission. All of us share that same responsibility to provide governance and governance at the board level means both providing some strategic vision um as well as operational feedback uh to the executives that are involved. I have done that function you know in the context of the school committee
091public service and in the private sector I've lived on the other side of that working with boards uh to see how they view the the world and so I think I'm in an excellent position because of both my technical background and that understanding of governance to provide strong leadership as a active water district commissioner. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Rosen. The Actton Water District is a well-managed organization with dedicated staff responsible supplying clean and safe water to our community. The board of commissioners set policy and rates and then we collaborate with the staff to address water issues and oversee district operations. As climate change affects water resources, we are proactively exploring adding alternative water sources even as we safeguard with the two additional PAS treatment plants to come online soon in central and south actton.
092The board also increased our water supply by bringing two deep bedrock wells online. As I outlined, the board addresses big things, but other conservation efforts help, too. Trees help replenish groundwater by slowing runoff and guiding water into the earth. We'd like you to please take the time to understand water article 33 as it would save trees which would continue to help maintain our water supply. Please vote for Barry Rosen for water commissioner. I know water. Thank you. And a round of applause for these candidates. [Applause] I think thank all the candidates for their willingness to run for office. It's not an easy thing to do and for part participating tonight. And now I turn the program back over to Pat Clifford to close. Thank you. Thank you, Nancy. Thank you everybody for coming. Um, the
093election is April 29th. You can go to the polls, which is going to be at the junior high, all precincts on that day, or you can vote by mail. Um around the room we've put some votebymail applications. If you care to do it that way, um it's the easiest thing is just fill out the application. You can give it to me. I'll get it to the town clerk tomorrow morning and you'll get your ballot in the mail. Um there is not going to be organized come to town hall and vote before the election like there is in the federal elections. So part of what I'm doing is telling the the audience that will be watching this um that they have an alternative. So the other thing we're going to do tonight is just spend a
094few minutes. I'd like the three unopposed candidates to just stand up and wave. Peter Barry for housing authority, Tina Stoville for trustee of the library, and Joanne Barry for town moderator. Um let's break up and I'll visit [Applause] And thank you all for coming. But have a have a cookie, ask a question, and a good night.