Letter To Tewksbury Voters From Select Board Candidate Ryan Lloyd

The following was submitted to Tewksbury Patch by Ryan Lloyd

To the residents and voters of Tewksbury,

Let me introduce myself. My name is Ryan Lloyd, and I am running for a seat on the Select Board.

I have been a Tewksbury resident for nearly 30 years, and a proud graduate of Tewksbury public schools and Shawsheen Tech. After I graduated in 2009, I enlisted in the US Air Force, where I served 12 years at bases around the world until my medical retirement in 2021. I am a father of one son.

I completed my bachelor’s degree in political science from American Military University shortly after my return home, and I quickly hit the ground running, working with different campaigns and organizations, and advocating for veterans to get them the services they deserve.

I am currently finishing up a two-year term on the Tewksbury Housing Authority where I have served as Chair for the last year. Where we’ve worked extremely hard to maintain our balanced budget and make much needed upgrades and renovations to ensure the units are safe and compliant for residents, many of them seniors. I also sit on the Historic Commission in town, working to preserve our town’s rich history and make sure future generations can learn about our roots.

I am frequently in attendance at the Select Board meetings so I can stay well informed about what decisions the town is facing and see how the board works to enrich our community to the best possible future for the residents.

I am an active and current member of the local VFW Post 8164, where I attend coffees and breakfasts with other veterans two to three times a week at various locations to discuss benefits, policies and other concerns many of our veteran and senior population face daily.

I try to get out to as many events as possible to make myself available to talk to residents in person and have real conversations about questions or concerns they may be facing and give some advice or input on what can be done if there is nothing that I can do.

I now hope to have the opportunity to take the knowledge and skills that I have gained from my military service as well as my time on the Housing Authority to continue to help Tewksbury be a place where young people can settle and start families and where longtime residents are able to age in place.

After leaving the Air Force, I was able to choose anywhere I wanted to live; I decided that I was meant to come back home to Tewksbury and have the chance to raise my son in the same town I grew up in.

However, I had to move back to my childhood home in the mobile home park because I cannot afford to purchase a home here and neither can more and more people from my generation of residents.

I agree with those who don’t want to see Tewksbury grow into a city, but I also don’t want to sit around and watch it turn into a giant business park with a few residential options for those who can afford million-dollar homes.

I am offering the residents of Tewksbury a voice on the Select Board that they can trust to have their hopes and dreams to stay here in mind when it comes to decisions regarding the town.

One of my top goals will be to work with our regional partners, and state and federal delegations to bring in funding to Tewksbury to fix our aging water systems and increase security and assistance to the State Hospital.

I look forward to working with the Planning Board and our Town Planner to reasonably implement new guidelines on opportunities and options to increase our housing inventory and business partners; our challenge is to expand on those while balancing traffic and infrastructure concerns.

If you have any questions or concerns you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact me at lloydryan721@gmail.comThe following was submitted to, 978-267-1576, or my Facebook page, Elect Ryan Lloyd.

- Ryan Lloyd

Candidate for Tewksbury Select Board