Vote Kevin Matthews – Help put the ‘govern’ back in local government

I am a member of the Select Board and other town committees but here speak only for myself.

I have been involved in local government for a number of years now, and thinking back to what got me involved, it really was about a desire for fiscal responsibility and good government. I posted about it numerous times back in the day, but for a number of years Sudbury was in the top 5 in the state for the number of overrides that were requested of taxpayers, and I believe we topped out at #2 out of 351 cities and towns over an ~10-year period in the number of times we asked for “capital exclusions”, which can be thought of a 1-year overrides. For a number of years since we have cut dramatically back on the overrides, and I like to think it was due in part to better fiscal management and communication between the Select Board, chief executive branch of Sudbury, and the Town Manager, the chief operating branch.

Sudbury’s Town Charter, found here https://sudbury.ma.us/.../board-of-selectmen-town.../ , says in part (emphasis added by me), “The board of selectmen shall be the chief policy making board of the town and shall act by the issuance of policy statements and guidelines **to be followed and implemented by all town agencies serving under the board**.” Under the Select Board is the Town Manager, which per the charter, “The town manager, **under the policy direction of the board of selectmen**, shall supervise, direct and be responsible for the efficient administration of all officers appointed by the town manager and their respective departments **and of all functions for which the town manager is given responsibility**….” Those functions include “all the financial management functions of the town”.

So why do I write this? In the last couple of years, I have seen a shift in the Select Board away from governance, pushing it directly to the Town Manager, and towards advocacy for issues and projects. Mind you, I realize advocacy comes with the territory. Hell, I’ve done it for what I feel is important to me, and I can’t think of a Select Board member in my time that hasn’t. However, that’s not what the job is about; in fact, I can’t find advocacy anywhere in the charter or bylaws or our own policies. The job is about governing through policy. And that does not mean just writing them, it means having the discipline to actually follow them. With sound fiscal management in mind, two policies stick out to me. Our Financial Policies come first; a lot of time was spent writing, reviewing, editing, etc. We approved them in February of 2023. And since they have sat in the cloud gathering virtual dust. We have not reviewed them, we have not compared them to actuals, and frankly we have no bloody idea if they are any good or not. Why? Because we haven’t discussed them. So, when I see candidates and political bloggers post about, for example, our current free cash situation I believe they are making statement when they should be asking questions. Questions like “How did we end up with $7m in free cash when we budgeted for ~$1.5m – is this a trend?” or “Division of Local Services says we should be at ____, but what is right for Sudbury?”. Or better yet, we should have had the conversation at first indication of things not going to budget, either to our advantage or not. But for that to happen we need to actually discuss them. And we are not. Putting it in project management terms, the Select Board is being ‘informed’ – one way and after the fact, as opposed to being ‘consulted’ – actual two-way dialogue. Let me be very clear I am not pinning this on the Town Manager. This is a Select Board issue. In fact, I think we have put the Town Manager in a precarious spot by allowing this to happen. We have had **two years** to discuss our “new” financial policies, and we have not done so. Not once. Putting that in financial terms, we will have spent **about a quarter of a billion of your dollars** in the time that policy has sat. Hard stop.

I think Kevin Matthews will help here.

Speaking of project management, the second policy is our Key Performance Indicator (KPI) tracking policy. The idea with this one was to essentially ensure dialogue about the big projects in town happens. We last discussed this in August of 2024 when Town Manager Sheehan went so far as to say of the policy, “I won't be shy about saying that I think this can help me a lot.” He suggested 4 projects that met his concept of “big project threshold” worthy of tracking – the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, ADA Improvements, Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan…and Atkinson pool renovations. We have not discussed our KPIs since, but a couple weeks back on “Capital Night” we ended up having a pretty uncomfortable discussion about the pool. I’ve seen candidates blogging about this too – advocating a position. However good governance – and good management – would instead have them asking why we as Board have not discussed this regularly, how we get here, and what could have been done to avoid it. Not talking about projects is a breakdown on many fronts. We cannot learn what works and what doesn’t, surprises are not avoided, and again I think puts the Town Manager in a bad spot. This is a breakdown in own policy as well as the town charter.

Again I think Kevin will help here.

I’ve known Kevin for a number of years now, even serving with him on a Town Committee for a spell. I have not always agreed with Kevin, but that's OK. When it comes to sound fiscal management and good government I am confident he will ask the right questions. We are staring down the barrel of an operational override. It is not a question of if, but when and how much. I want to ensure that before this goes to the legislative branch of Sudbury – you, the voter – it is properly vetted by the executive and operational branches through frequent, effective two-way dialogue.

You, the voter, have the say in how Sudbury operates. You can elect advocates, or those that want to roll up their sleeves and govern. It’s your town, it’s your budget, it’s your government. Help put the ‘govern’ back in it. Join me in voting for Kevin Matthews for Select Board on March 31.

Thank you

Dan Carty