Selectmen Candidates Discuss Infrastructure, Working Collaboratively With Schools

Selectman Jason Smith and Town Meeting member James (Jim) Pillsbury are the two names on the ballot for a 3-year term on the Framingham Board of Selectmen. Smith is seeking his fourth term as a Selectman.

The town election is Tuesday, April 7.

Framingham Patch asked the two candidates a series of questions. The answers to each question will be published this week, as the candidates submitted them, this week from Monday through Friday.

Monday’s question: What are 3 biggest issues facing the Town of Framingham? What can you do as a Selectmen to fix the problems? Click here to read the candidates’ answers.

Tuesday’s question: What can you do as a Selectman to economically revitalize neighborhoods in Framingham (ie Nobscot, downtown, Saxonville, etc)? Click here to read the answers.

Wednesday’s question: Do you support selling the Memorial Building for a possible Mass Bay College campus? Why or Why not? Click here to read the answers.

Today’s question focuses on working with the Framingham Public Schools collaboratively to upgrade the infrastructure in the Town of Framingham.

Framingham Patch asked the candidates: Both the Town and the Schools are facing infrastructure issues over the next decade. Talk about your vision for Framingham and how the municipal and school sides can work collaboratively.

***

Smith: ”The Town and Schools are facing some really important infrastructure upgrades in the near future and both the town’s management team and the school’s management team must be able to trust each other in order to serve the community the way our residents deserve to be served.

Without collaboration, without communication and without trust, we have failure. As a community, we cannot afford to take a full step backward. To me, failure is not an option.

The Board of Selectman has made it a yearly priority to review both the Capital and Operating budget several times before the annual town meeting to ensure the budget is viewed and available to all boards. I will continue to encourage all boards to have early meetings around the budget to ensure there is as much transparency as possible for our tax payers.

Town Manager Bob Halpin brought forth and implemented an excellent idea in 2015 by starting a capital fund 3 to 4 years in advance to ensure we would have approximately 4.5 million dollars to use for the Fuller/Farley School project. This management style and decision shows excellent financial dedication to important projects in the town of Framingham and we need more of these decisions to help Framingham move forward.

There is nothing more important than our kids, they are the future and we need to help them achieve their dreams and goals.

I have worked with past Superintendents and many of the school committee chairs to advocate to my own board the importance of education and the need for additional funding for the budget. Every dollar spent on education is an investment in the future of our kids and our community.

At this time, we have not seen this year’s completed school budget after asking for it several times. We need more lines of communication and collaboration and less bureaucracy so we can ensure we are spending the funding on our kids education.

Both the schools and the town need to continue to look for shared office space as this could provide for an even more robust relationship for all employees and for the community. This to me would be a one stop shopping for folks who need to spend time with both parties.

I will continue to encourage all department heads (DPW, Park and Rec and Schools) to work together and meet more frequently to ensure we are working as one community, and that we can support each other’s agendas and idea’s.
Over the next 5 years we have two major school renovations of 20 million each, a new Main Library, 4 fire stations (renovation of the fire headquarters, station 1 on Rte 9, station 7 in Nobscot and station 5 at Concord st) and a police station, all of which is our core building group which will cost 7.5 million dollars over the next 5 years. We also have to replace Fire Station #2 in Saxonville.

Make no mistake, we have allot of work ahead of us and I am certainly looking forward to working with everyone to help Framingam continue to move forward. ”

Pillsbury: “It’s all one pot of money with help from the State. We should think more globally and long-term about our joint needs, all sides will get what they need to operate. The fact that the School Administration just moved to the Perini Building and was at capacity that day is a stark reminder that the leadership is not thinking long-term. There will always be different needs based on what the Departments’ want, but land and buildings are what they all need. A new fire house will go in Saxonville, a few new roofs will fill the needs on the Town side, but the schools will have to take precedent, like it or not.

l believe the adversarial attitude of the Town Manager and BOS towards the school should end. I also believe Town Meeting should have the opportunity to review the entire school budget. That alone may remove the cloud of secrecy that seems to exist with the School budget every year. Many believe that there’s a fair amount of padding going on, but since we approve the school budget as a whole, we never know what makes up that total. The BOS and Town Manger should be part of the budget discussion from the beginning, not just the end.

The new Governor has made a commitment to education and has increased Chapter 70 funding. The Lt Governor has publicly stated that the Baker Administration will be looking to help municipalities with unfunded mandates and regulations that the Town now pays for. This is very good news for Framingham schools. We must look for any reasonable efficiency in our school system budget and pursue any and all grant opportunities. We need more oversight and review of major grant applications and should never be omitting crucial details that deny this Town its fair share of State money.

The State school building funding is critical to our tax burden over many years. What we do now affects every tax payer in Town for decades. What we spend on education is driven by factors beyond our control more than management admits; things like population growth, availability of affordable housing, and proximity to Boston. School funding should grow with demand, unlike the municipal side where an increase in population is more easily absorbed.

Our school management must earn TM’s trust by being transparent with their budget. It should be evaluated just like the others. That would go a long way in improving relationships with the BOS. I also believe there’s always savings when you look at the budget objectively.”