Maloney Makes Second Bid for Seat on Board of Selectmen

When Michael Maloney ran to be a selectman in 2012, he said the most common criticism he faced was that he wasn't yet an invested citizen.

As a new resident, Maloney said people didn't think he had enough time to get his feet wet.

A year later, however, he hopes that image of him has changed.

"I met a lot of people during the campaign last year and over the course of the past year since the election," he said." I’m involved in the capital planning committee, chamber of commerce, Lions – I’ve met a lot more people. [My wife] Johnna and I have established some more ties and I’m looking forward to giving it a go."

For the second year in a row, Maloney is jumping into a four-person race. He is in a battle for one of two spots on the board. Finance Committee Chair Carol Nestler, local activist Dottie Fulginiti, and Planning Board member Dan Smith are also looking to join the board.

Maloney was in a similar battle last year. In the end, however, he fell to incumbents Dan Murphy and Colleen Corona.

"If you play like you’re scared to lose, you have no chance in hell of winning, right?" Maloney said.

He said his experience in town over the last year has helped re-affirm many of the same stances he had a year ago.

The trial lawyer is opposed to Easton being a member of the four-town Crossroads Veterans District. The district consists of the towns of Norton, Mansfield, Easton and Foxborough sharing two veterans agents.

"I’ve been to the VFW probably half a dozen times over the past two months," he said.  "They don’t support the regionalization. I can go on the record in saying I’d be very pro-active in ensuring that Easton gets its own agent."

Maloney said he also regularly sees Easton's emergency personnel during his job at the courts.

"I run into police and fire personnel 24/7," he said. "They’re clearly underfunded. Unfortunately they're typically dealing in situations that are sufficed to say  - dire. It’s clear that they need additional funding to ensure their obligations are met."

While he agrees that the town has done well in prioritizing police and fire in its operating budgets - including adding two new firefighters and two new police officers for half the year in FY14 - he hopes other projects, such as Downtown Revitalization, do not drain town resources.

He said Selectmen did a good job building up reserve funds prior to the recession but he would like to see it built back up.

"Regardless of the money that is originally anticipated to be spent on 'project x', additional funds are always required," Maloney said. "Investing significant funds into downtown revitalization, if that would necessitate pulling funds away from the reserve budget, I would have major reservations about that."

According to town administrator David Colton's preliminary budget memo, Easton's reserves peaked at $2.9 million in 2009 and now stand at $1.4 million. The projected budget for FY14 will not take from reserves.

Maloney hopes the town can improve it's town-gown relationship with Stonehill College - and perhaps realize more revenue from the tax-exempt institution.

This year, to $30,000. The college plans to increase its gift by another $10,000 over the next two years.

Maloney said that compared to other colleges-town relationships, that is still not enough.

"If you look at some of the fire trucks in Easton – the only buildings in Easton that [the ladder truck] could actually service are the buildings on Stonehill’s campus," he said. "So, the money we’re getting from Stonehill every year doesn’t even cover a fraction of the money being utilized to service Stonehill."

As a capital planning committee member, Maloney said he realizes that there are difficult decisions to be made.

"You want to benefit everyone, but at the end of the day you can’t satisfy everyone," he said.

Maloney was part of the Capital Planning Committee when it recommended $50,000 worth of the $173,000 requested by Easton's school department for technology. Colton later overrode the Capital Planning committee's recommendation and released a revised budget that awarded the entire request.

Maloney said during an April 4 debate sponsored by Easton Community Access Television, Easton Patch and the Easton Journal that while he was "frustrated" the recommendation was not followed, he was happy the schools would receive the funding.

"Am I somewhat frustrated that our recommendation wasn’t followed? A bit," he said. "But at the same time, I realize the bigger picture that school is a major issue. So, I’d really go halfway on this issue."

Maloney is used to difficult decisions and challenges. He is also used to staying busy.

He currently serves at the treasurer of the Bristol County Bar Advocates.

"Essentially we’re running the county’s allocation of the budget via Deval Patrick," he said. "I’ve been doing that for about a year and a half now."

He also regularly runs Iron Man competitions, triathlons and Ultra Marathons.

Still - he is ready for another challenge.

"How does that saying go? If you want something to get done, ask a busy guy to do it," he said. "Yes, I’m busy but I don’t consider it that much of an issue. I’d be bored out of my mind if I didn’t have something going on 25 hours a day."

This is the final piece in a four-part series profiling all of the candidates for the board of selectmen. To read about Dottie Fulginiti, click here. To read about Dan Smith, click here. To read about Carol Nestler, click here.