WaylandeNews Q&A with the Board of Selectmen Candidates

Lea Anderson

I decided to run because I care deeply about Wayland and its governance. I know that elections matter. I am concerned about balancing our wide range of needs and wants with residents’ ability and willingness to pay for them. I am committed to maintaining momentum for many worthwhile projects that have been initiated over the past several years.

Wayland has provided my family with a wonderful environment to raise children and enjoy nature, culture, and history. I want to make sure that future generations of Waylanders can claim the same.

Mary Antes

If you care about something, it is hard to walk away after only one year. There are a number of Selectmen issues I care deeply about. For example, I am the Selectmen’s representative to the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust. The Trust is about to get a substantial amount of money from the Community Preservation Committee and will be able to explore projects to ensure more affordable housing options in town, as will Rivers Edge.

George Harris

I care deeply about Wayland. I want the Selectmen to start confronting several serious problems they seem to be ignoring. First, just about everyone in town knows we are polarized into divisive factions. The root cause is money. The Selectmen should strive for a more harmonious community. The way to start is by listening to everyone, not just those who already share your views. Second, we suffer from very high property taxes. Over the past ten years, our annual budget has been increasing at the unsustainable pace of more than twice the rate of inflation. As a result, older citizens, young families, and many people in between are getting taxed out of town. Poor decisions and short-sighted planning have led to some huge capital cost overruns, very expensive lost lawsuits, and serious financial blunders, which have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars. These kinds of mistakes simply do not happen in well-run towns. Third, our government does not adequately conduct its affairs in an open and transparent manner. I have specific proposals to address these issues; please see paragraph 3 below.

Lea Anderson

I served on the School Committee for nine years (1994 – 2003) and was chair for two. I was chair of the High School Building Committee for ten years (2003-2013) bringing that project from feasibility study to completion under budget on an accelerated schedule. I was the School Committee’s representative to the Suburban Coalition, The Education Cooperative, and the Town’s Master Plan Committee.

I have learned much about good governance on these committees. I approached each job with an open mind and a willingness to listen and consider other points of view. I am determined to communicate clearly in and about my work on each committee and to foster transparency in local government.

My nature is collaborative, but I am not afraid to say what I think if things are going in the wrong direction. I pay attention to details and the big picture. I am pragmatic, tolerant, and have common sense. I know how to interpret financial data and look for ways to improve efficiency and get value for our hard earned tax dollars. I am frugal by nature, but also realize that services have a cost.

I have ideas and the energy to work hard for Wayland. This is a community worth working for.

Mary Antes

There are three candidates for two seats on the BOS. One of the other candidates and I share many of the same qualities: ability to work collaboratively and in a positive manner, do our homework, listen to all sides, work together to improve the town we love.

George Harris

I have 25 years of experience as a management consultant to industry and government. I have consulted for many Fortune 500 companies and various Federal agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, and National Cancer Institute. I also have practiced law for 20 years. I know how to help organizations achieve better results without necessarily spending more money. I know how to improve institutional performance through the proper application of management control systems (which Wayland mostly lacks). We need different approaches. The same old, same old will not get the job done and will not heal the town.

Lea Anderson

First, I propose a study on tax relief for seniors who are struggling to pay taxes and stay in their homes. While Wayland offers a tax work-off program and several tax abatement programs for the elderly, veterans, the blind, and other eligible homeowners, I feel we could do more through local option proposals.

The State Circuit Breaker Tax Credit is a state income tax credit for eligible senior homeowners who pay more than 10% of their income on property taxes. It is a generous program with high thresholds for eligibility. Wayland matches the state payment. I believe that this program is misunderstood and undersubscribed in Wayland. I would like to find a way to expand participation in this program.

Second, I propose finding a way to diminish the number of Open Meeting Law (OML) complaints that waste time and money and sap the energy of hardworking, dedicated committee members and employees. One suggestion is to hold training sessions that are more useful and engaging. Wayland has a number of people who are interested and knowledgeable about the OML and might be willing to help if asked.

Keeping up with the writing of minutes has become a burden to committees and staff because they try to report every word of complicated, long meetings. I would support revising the practice of writing detailed minutes within the rules of the OML. This would result in more timely publication of meeting minutes.

Mary Antes

Over the years, people have talked about how difficult it is to work with the town. It would help people doing business with the town to have a how-to guide—who to go to for what—to ease the process.

An initiative I’ve pushed over the years is a town-wide community calendar. We have a number of great programs and interesting meetings that end up competing with one another because there is no single source for setting a date.

I also like the idea of an annual summit of all town boards to understand their issues and upcoming projects. I think the proposed committee to research and organize/schedule town projects will be a helpful addition.

George Harris

I would encourage the Board of Selectmen to take its head out of the sand. The town is split, and the Selectmen are ignoring the problem. I strongly recommend that they undertake a citizen satisfaction improvement program, which would begin with a professionally designed demographic survey. Other towns, such as Needham, have done this. But the survey is only the beginning. Next I advise hiring a management consulting firm experienced in designing municipal services improvement to help translate survey results into beneficial change.

I want to reduce or stabilize taxes without cutting services. Newton, for example, uses zero-based budgeting as the basis for developing its operating budget. Use of this method will improve efficient allocation of resources and lead to cost effective ways to improve operations. The Selectmen also need to oversee development of a rolling five-year comprehensive financial forecast for the proactive management of personnel costs, operating expenditures, capital improvements, equipment replacement, and debt service. Perhaps most important, the Selectmen need to make better-informed decisions to avoid wasteful and unnecessary spending, which too often results from cart-before-the-horse thinking. I look forward to working with the Selectmen to avoid these unanticipated and costly pitfalls.

Finally, in order to improve transparency and openness, I advocate better training of our town government volunteers, which, for all intents and purposes, is nonexistent. For most volunteers, there is virtually no training as to what their jobs entail or how to perform them. No successful business operates this way.

Lea Anderson

I do not think that one should automatically take priority over the other. The key issue in this race is how to balance the demand for services with the willingness and ability of taxpayers to support these services. Our priority should be to have a well-run town with high quality services that people are willing to pay for.

We should regularly evaluate services and determine their worth to the town. For services worth saving or enhancing, we must pay attention to the growth in the operating and capital budgets to make sure taxpayers are willing and able to foot the bill. Budget planning is key to this sustainability.

Mary Antes

Controlling taxes is always an important consideration but it is not as simple as lowering the tax rate or cutting the budget. Town budgets have been level funded for years; that means there is little if any fat. Cutting really means losing services. What services can we do without? Fewer snow plows? More pot holes? Less building maintenance? Fewer teachers and public safety personnel? Such decisions are difficult and need broad community discussion.

The other side of the coin is looking for additional ways to provide senior tax relief. The committee working on this topic has requested our legislators to raise the exemption rates; the town can request a special act that would provide relief for more seniors.

George Harris

We can do both—maintain services and cut taxes or limit tax increases. But it requires a different mindset by our decision-makers. We know that the bulk of our operating expenses goes towards employee salaries and benefits, which are the result of labor negotiations. But the conduct of labor negotiations in Wayland is a deep, dark secret kept from the public, even after the fact. I would encourage the Selectmen to bring in some top-flight labor consultants to help set our bargaining strategy.

Through better decision-making, we can reduce wasteful and unnecessary spending. We must keep Wayland affordable for all of our residents.

In summary, we can maintain services while reducing or stabilizing taxes. But it will not happen by merely repeating past approaches, which are not up to the task. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. To date there has been little will and little effort to establish long-range financial plans to control spending excesses.

Lea Anderson

Wayland is a desirable place to live because of its location, natural beauty, open space, and excellent schools. Our houses are a good investment and that benefits all of us.

I want to live in a town of people with a variety of ages, incomes, and interests. I believe in the social compact. Taxpayers supported my children’s education and now it is my turn to support younger families.

I think that the town is on the right track in several areas and support efforts to:

• Increase commercial tax base through Town Center development and other suggestions of the Economic Development Committee, thus lessening the residential tax burden
• Bring the community into the Town Center with a possible Council on Aging/Community Center on the town pad, bike trail, canoe launch, town green
• Increase and diversify housing stock with projects like River’s Edge that add to affordable housing, get us closer to 10% affordable housing, end Chapter 40B influence, and provide a downsizing option for seniors

Mary Antes

I chaired the Town’s 375^th anniversary celebration in 2013-2014. Over the course of the year, we presented some 50 events in collaboration with a number of community organizations and individuals. It reinforced my belief that Wayland is filled with intelligent, accomplished, dedicated, hard-working, compassionate, interesting people who are a pleasure to work with.

Apparently that is not everyone’s experience. They see untrustworthy people making poor decisions behind closed doors. I see volunteers who put in countless hours, work hard to understand complex issues, and strive to do a good job. They—we—may not be perfect; they may make mistakes. Who doesn’t? Can we do better? There is always room for improvement. I believe that together we can make our community even better.

George Harris

My wife and I moved to Wayland 43 years ago with a young family for the same reasons most of you did—schools, open space, and quality of life. Both of our children attended Wayland schools from kindergarten through high school, receiving excellent educations; both graduated from Harvard College. After a 25-year career as a management consultant with Arthur D. Little, Inc., I decided to attend law school. I have been an attorney in private practice since 1995. I have a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota; M.A. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University; J.D. from Boston College; and I attended Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development. I deeply value education.