THE ISSUES
THE ISSUES
Embedded Files
The School Budget:
How will we meet the rising costs of our elementary school and the regional school district while keeping life here affordable for all residents? Getting the State to allocate more "Chapter 70" rural aid funds to our children's schools is critical. I will advocate on behalf of Shutesbury, in conjunction with other towns, and through our State congress members for more school funds.
PFAS:
The mitigation of PFAS in drinking water wells is a challenging, rapidly growing cost for the town, and tapping into the limited available funding on the State level may not be a long-term solution. I will advocate for permanent legislation to increase financial assistance for private well owners and to establish state standards.
Compensation for Clean Water:
Clean drinking water is delivered every day to millions of people from the Quabbin Reservoir, which Shutesbury borders and helps to protect. Yet, Shutesbury receives comparatively little compensation for its stewardship role over the Quabbin. I will push for a better rate of compensation paid to Shutesbury by the State for protecting the forest land around the Quabbin. I will also push for more representation of towns that border the Quabbin on the board of the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority.
Infrastructure:
We rely on our roads to get us to so many basic resources, and options for public transit are limited. One broken culvert can affect the whole town. An overly busy, dusty, or muddy road impacts many people's quality of life. One heavy snow season just depleted our winter road funds. I am committed to long-term plans for keeping our roads safe and reliable.
Climate Resilience/Stormwater:
On the Select Board, I would acknowledge and confront the climate issues that threaten our roads, our water, our woods, our lake, and our quality of life town-wide.
Handling the "new normal" of stormwater runoff, flash flooding, and storm damage to roads, town land, and private property is more important than ever. How will we safeguard our clean water, both on the surface and underground? How will we ensure the life-enhancing recreational activities available to us in our vibrant forests and on Lake Wyola?
On the Lake Wyola Advisory Committee, one of our main focuses is the condition and resilience of the lake's dam, which is about to undergo emergency repairs this April. Even after these repairs, the dam will still require more work in the near future.
In my work on the Lake Wyola Stormwater Erosion Task Force, we helped the town secure a grant from the Rural Development Fund for conducting an engineering study of the Lake Wyola watershed this spring, as the first step in designing and implementing management practices for storm runoff. The Task Force was temporary, but there is a newly formed, town-wide Stormwater Mitigation and Implementation Committee in its place.
Regionalization of Services:
From regional education, to regional building and health inspection services, to regional public safety - I will be honest about evaluating the risks and compromises as well as the savings and benefits that cooperative and shared municipal agreements might entail.
I recognize this list of Issues is not complete.
Please be in touch with issues YOU care about. Contact me with your ideas & concerns
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse