The candidates forum Tuesday evening showed broad areas of agreement among the three people running for the single open position on the Select Board. Candidates Richard Cabelus, Michael Maglothin, and Erin McBee responded to questions submitted by residents for an hour in a forum organized by Harvard’s League of Women Voters and jointly sponsored by the Harvard Press. The forum was moderated by Jo-Ann Berry, a board member of the Massachusetts LWV and Acton’s town moderator.
All three candidates spoke of their affection for Harvard’s rural character and their desire to maintain it. All three emphasized the need to diversify the town’s tax base so that the whole burden does not fall on homeowners through the property tax. All three cited the need to do a better job maintaining town-owned buildings and protecting historical buildings. And all three described the Select Board as having the main responsibility for policy and the overall direction of the town.
Differences among the candidates were harder to pinpoint and were largely a matter of emphasis.
Select Board candidates wait for the candidates forum to begin on Zoom, May 11. Clockwise from top right: Erin McBee, Richard Cabelus, Jo-Ann Berry (moderator), and Michael Maglothin.
Opening statements
In his opening statement Maglothin emphasized his 20 years of experience managing large-scale projects, first in the military and later in businesses with government contracts. He said he chose to run for Select Board out of a sense of civic duty and “because there’s so many critical issues that have come to fruition … such as the [Ayer] road corridor, the challenges facing our facilities management … and finding revenue.”
Cabelus, too, said he saw the town at a critical point. He stressed the need to “halt the property tax creep and try to live within our means … while maintaining academic excellence, upholding rural and agricultural integrity, … and providing superior public services.”
McBee emphasized her experience on the Planning Board. “I learned a lot about how the town runs and how things can be accomplished,” she said. As an attorney, she said, she helps her clients plan for aging in place. “This background will help me strategize ways to improve senior services and make it easier for folks to remain here.”
Commercial development and new sources of revenue
The development of the Ayer Road commercial district was often coupled with the need for new sources of tax revenue. For Cabelus that was the main goal. He said, “That has to be the objective of this plan; it’s to diversify the tax base.” He suggested senior housing such as Bowers Brook and Foxglove in a walkable commercial district.
McBee said the important issue is to make sure any businesses that open on Ayer Road are ones the residents want, not those that will just bring in traffic and trucks from Route 2 and Devens. Citing her years on the Planning Board, she said the way to move toward that goal is by adopting a form-based code for the commercial district. But she noted that any commercial development must deal with the need for water and sewer connections along Ayer Road, while also considering the conditions for Ayer Road residents.
Maglothin pointed out that the commercial district is small “so we need to make the best use of it we can.” The town should be sure, he said, that any development there does not add so much in costs that they offset any gain in revenue. Several times during the forum, he advocated for businesses that have “a symbiotic relationship” with one another and the town, such as farm-to-table restaurants, boutique inns, and a farmers market. He noted that inns would provide room excise tax revenues, and the restaurants would support local farms.
All three candidates mentioned Devens as a source of commercial development, but none of them discussed the future connection to Devens in any detail.
The moderator asked the candidates, “How can we expect to pay for large projects like a new senior center, fire station, DPW building or any other large capital project in the future without a Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusion?”
Cabelus, who had said in an earlier interview that he would oppose any future debt exclusion measure, said, “I think the answer is simple. You can’t, you just simply can’t.” The only way to afford such projects, he said, was “to find ways to try to diversify the [tax] base.” Otherwise, he predicted, “I think you’re going to see this town become cost-prohibitive. … you’re going to have this downward spiral.”
Maglothin also acknowledged the difficulty of the problem. “I don’t have an answer for you on that. … this is something I’d like to look at more data for.” He expressed doubt at Cabelus’ idea that the town could find enough revenue from new sources for such projects.
McBee suggested the town should make more use of grants, saying the grants after 9/11 had helped build the Public Safety Building. Corporate sponsorship, she said, might be a possibility for some projects. She also suggested expanding the senior tax relief program to reduce the burden of property taxes for those on fixed incomes.
Referring to the Select Board’s recent vote to endorse a diversity statement, the moderator asked the candidates how they would implement the values in that statement.
Cabelus said, “The Harvard I see welcomes all, regardless of color, creed, and identity. … I believe that what the statement does is simply reiterate what Harvard is and what Harvard always has been.”
Maglothin agreed, saying, “It’s simply an affirmation that we’re equals, and that we, as elected officials, conduct ourselves as such. … Black Lives Matter.”
McBee linked the question of diversity to the need for more affordable housing, which she said has been a challenge for the town. She said the diversity statement was important both for historical and current reasons. “I know of people of color who moved out of this town because of the treatment of their children, and it breaks my heart.”
Other topics of discussion were the protection of the town’s historical buildings; the effectiveness of the recent Town Charter and any changes to be made in it; how to improve goal setting and accountability with the town administrator; and how to ensure that town departments take into account the environmental impact of their activities.
The full candidates forum as it was recorded by HCTV is available at https://vimeo.com/548369372.
