Barring a successful last minute write-in campaign, Alice von Loesecke will become the newest member of the Board of Selectmen after Town Election April 12. She will take the seat held by Selectman Leo Blair, who chose not to run for another term. Von Loesecke has been the Finance Committee chairwoman for the past three years and will leave that board after the election.
Alice Von Loesecke. (Courtesy photo)
Von Loesecke said that several people asked her to run last year, but she wanted to stay on the Finance Committee. She said that this year, Blair told her he was having second thoughts about running again, and he asked her to run. She collected signatures on nomination papers and turned them in on March 8. No other candidates came forward to run for Blair’s seat.
Prior experience
Other than her four years on the Finance Committee, von Loesecke’s relevant experience is in the private sector. Until 2014 she worked full time for a health-care information company, doing everything from market research and product development to mergers and acquisitions. She said that in addition to looking at business models and conducting financial analyses, her job involved finding creative solutions to problems, a skill she believes will be useful as a selectwoman.
Von Loesecke said that she intends to look at multiple elements before making critical decisions. She’ll try to determine what the town wants by talking to residents and other committee members. She’ll ask if this is something that’s already being done or if it can be done by adding another layer to something that already exists. And she’ll look at the issue from a financial perspective. She said there are times when policy discussions get ahead of financial analyses and that the selectmen could reach out more to the Finance Committee to help with these analyses.
Town buildings, C-district
Two big challenges facing the town, said von Loesecke, are aging municipal buildings and the development of the commercial district.
She said the selectmen should consider all of the old buildings as a group and look for creative solutions. For instance, she said, it might be possible to house both the school administration offices and the Harvard Cultural Collaborative in the old library. She said that she’d like to present townspeople with all the information about each building in need of repair, discuss the trade-offs, and put options in front of the voters. Currently, she said, discussions about the old library and Bromfield House get tabled because assumptions are made about what the town would or would not vote for.
As for the second challenge, Von Loesecke believes that the town needs a commercial tax base and that it needs to attract developers. She said that the zoning articles in this year’s Town Meeting warrant are a good roadmap for development, and she thinks that this roadmap provides “a good opportunity for the selectmen to champion proactive development instead of waiting for proposals.”
When asked about her fit in the mix of other board members, von Loesecke said she is “basically a centrist.” She said she’s not coming in with an agenda. She plans to look at issues objectively from all angles and to do “really good due diligence.” She said that her goals are to creatively solve the municipal building issue, to be results-oriented, and to bring a consistent, thoughtful approach to any problem that comes before the board.
As for the “tough hide” that Blair said is necessary for the job (see related article, page 1), von Loesecke believes she’s got it: “I was in sales for seven years. And when you’re redesigning elements of a business or negotiating with a company you’re going to acquire, you develop a tough skin.”
FinCom “in good shape”
Von Loesecke said that the Finance Committee will be fine without her. She was intending to step down as chairwoman this year anyway. “We’re two years into a new process where the town administrator and the Finance Department review department budgets ahead of time, and the Board of Selectmen is taking a more active role in department budgets as well,” said von Loesecke. “The budget process is much smoother, so the committee is in good shape.”
