Justin Brown, the Planning Board’s newest member, will be attending his first meeting as a member June 4.
In an interview this week, Brown said that his goal was to bring “thoughtful, evidence-based decision making” to the board. Describing himself as a scientist “by both training and disposition,” Brown emphasized that he plans to “ask hard questions” to drive the decision-making process.
He said that his background in the sciences leads him to always question the “why” of issues and that he believes this curiosity to be an invaluable resource when making decisions. Recalling some discussions about the new elementary school where his curiosity had been misinterpreted as hostility, Brown emphasized that he planned to search for answers out of real curiosity. “I don’t do it to be a jerk,” he said. “I do it because I genuinely want to understand.”
Brown, who lives on Park Lane, moved to town in May 2017. He said that during the time he has been in Harvard, he has been impressed with the town’s civic life. His neighbors immediately encouraged him to stay abreast of town issues, attend town meetings, and subscribe to the Press, advice that he soon took. Over the past year, Brown has attended meetings of most of the town’s boards with an eye toward learning how the town operates.
When asked about his decision to run for the Planning Board and his victory with three write-in votes, Brown explained that he had noticed the vacancy on the board the night before Town Election while reading the ballot online. The three votes came from himself, his wife, and one of their neighbors. The decision to run was not entirely a whim, however, as his neighbors and former Selectman Bill Marinelli, who works at the same company as Brown, had encouraged him over the past year to run for a board.
Though this will be his first experience as a member of town government, he said that he is “eager to learn” and views his time on the Planning Board as an exciting opportunity to learn more about the town.
