Letter to the Editor: Rosemary Connelly Smedile Deserves Your Vote for Selectman

To the Editor:

There is a contested race for Selectman in North Andover and your vote could not be more important. We hope that you will consider and vote for Rosemary Connelly Smedile to continue on the North Andover Selectman Board.

Rosemary has been a steady hand, works well with the other board members, and has had a long and proud record of service to the town of North Andover, including on the finance committee and more recently on the Board of Selectmen. When we first moved back to town 17 years ago, our town was facing regular Proposition 2 ½ overrides and constant bickering among its various governing boards. With a new class of town leadership going back to that time, we have come so far with better services and schools, improvements in infrastructure, and enhanced quality of life with the smart and sustainable growth policies that comes from responsible stewardship of our resources. This did not happen by accident. It was the result of the determined efforts of civic- minded individuals, Rosemary among them, who selflessly put themselves forward to serve their fellow citizens.

While the challenger brings his own perspective, the position is for Selectman and not Mayor. The Board of Selectmen, working collegially despite differences, has a laudable list of accomplishments including the success of the Master Facility Plan, which in four years has built the Kittredge Gym (2013), new Central Office for the School Department (2014), a new Fire Station (2015), and is currently renovating Town Hall (2016) to repatriate our town offices to the downtown, all without an override!

I find myself unconvinced that the Board of Selectmen, as it is currently constituted, needs to be reconfigured. The Board of Selectmen has been able to accomplish so much because of the ability of its members to work collegially. We all know that Rosemary is one of the reasons that the Board is able to process its business with the decorum and dignity of which we are all so very proud. Rosemary is one of the most thoughtful, reasonable and experienced members in our town leadership. She has put herself forward, to stand for election because she loves her town, like so many of us. We urge our neighbors and friends to return this outstanding public servant to the Board of Selectmen in North Andover for another term.

Frank MacMillan, Jr., MD

Laura MacMillan