Tell us a little about yourself. You can include your personal background, family, outside interests that are important to who you are as a person and a candidate.
I’ve lived in Lexington since 2004, and my wife and I raised our three children here. In Lexington I’ve been involved in the community in a number of ways, from coaching youth sports for many years to service on four different town committees and in Town Meeting.
Why are you running for Town Meeting?
We chose to live in Lexington because it’s a special place. I’d like to do what I can to keep the things that make it special while also allowing it to evolve with the times—including allowing for positive growth and change. Our town has a long history of effective and transparent government, and I’d be proud to continue being a part of it.
How has your past experience — whether in your professional life, elected office, or as a community leader — prepared you for a role in Town Meeting?
I’m a practicing attorney and have been involved in land use, zoning, and related issues over the years. I’ve also served in management roles in organizations, which has given me experience in budgeting, personnel and project management.
I was one of the point people from the Lexington Center Committee who met with Planning Board members to discuss a new ordinance that would place a limit on the number of new banking and real estate uses in our town center. I felt strongly that we had too many such institutions (banks and real estate offices) and needed to limit them in order to preserve the vitality of our town. Members of the Planning Board were initially resistant to this initiative for a number of reasons. We met several times to discuss our opposing views, and I listened carefully to their concerns. We were able to come up with compromise language, which was adopted by Town Meeting and became law.
What is the most important issue in this election to you personally, and what ideas do you have about how to address this issue?
Due to recent inflation (especially in construction and health care costs) and the effects of Proposition 2 1/2, we are facing new operational budget pressures in coming years. As a member of the town’s Capital Expenditures Committee, I have supported many recent building initiatives that were important to the town, such as the new police station and the new high school. In the coming years I believe we will likely be forced to be more disciplined, and possibly more restrained, in our spending on new construction, so that we can strike the right balance between buildings and people (i.e., treating our town employees and public school teachers fairly). Relatedly, we may see increased new private multi-family construction as a result of recent zoning changes, and we need to make sure that there is a sensible and fair way of ensuring that our schools and municipal departments are well supported by the evolving tax base.