Westborough 2024 Election Profile: Shelby Marshall, Select Board

WESTBOROUGH, MA — Westborough voters will go to the polls for the second time this month on March 12 for the annual town election featuring eight races for town and regional school committee seats.

Only three races are competitive in 2024: school committee, library board and the Trustees of the Soldiers' Memorials board. Two Westborough Select Board incumbents are back for new terms this year, and Westborugh Patch asked them to respond to our questionnaire to remind voters what the town's main legislative board is working on.

Member Shelby Marshall was first elected in 2018 earning the most votes in a three-way race for two seats. Here's what Marshall said about why she's running for a third term in 2024:

Even though you’re running unopposed, can you remind voters who you are and why you’re seeking another term?

I love this work, I love Westborough, and I am enthusiastic about service. Giving back to my community by serving on the Select Board is an honor. Now more than ever, our community, our nation, needs representatives who are enthusiastic to serve all the people and do so with integrity. We need leaders who govern with empathy, who are grounded, and who can objectively factor in all available information to make decisions in the community’s best interests. It is impossible to please everyone. As a leader, you must make decisions from current and fact-based information, defend the decision, and learn and grow with each win and loss. These are my values and how I have served in my last two terms.

I am seeking another term for several reasons. First, my passion and commitment to the board and the town remain strong. Second, there are several projects that I want to see completed – for example, implementing the recommendations outlined in the Senior Needs Assessment; bringing the intergenerational community center online and understanding the feasibility of opening the Hocomonco Pond site for passive recreation. There is work to be done in Westborough to create affordable paths while remaining an attractive community we are proud to hand to our children and their children.

What’s one thing you would like to accomplish in the coming Westborough Select Board term?

I am excited to see the town complete the acquisition of the intergenerational community center (slated for March 2024). The next step in the process is community engagement. This process must be thorough and broad to identify programming and space use ideas for seniors, youth, and everyone in between. I look forward to being in a visible role, advocating for this process, and reaching deep into the community to drive engagement.

What’s one thing town government is doing well right now and one thing it’s not doing well? How would you fix what’s not being done well?

The town government has done an excellent job of long-term planning for asset management, capital expenditures, and staffing. Several important studies were conducted — Strategic Plan, Staffing Study, Senior Needs Assessment, and the Master Plan — all of which we use regularly to inform decisions and future planning. These were smart uses of taxpayer dollars for Westborough.

The Town has improved its communications over the past year. We launched a new website, offered Citizen Leadership Academy (CLA), and published a quarterly newsletter. I would like more community engagement and outreach to residents with clear, easy-to-understand communications. We must consider offering CLA three times a year. When residents understand how municipal government works, and how they fit into it and/or can be an active part of it, we build stronger communities.

We know that Westborough’s location is attractive for businesses. We need to ensure that as a Town we are taking the initiative to engage businesses, seeking opportunities to attract and retain them. Our town government must be consultative for all businesses — current and prospective. While we have made improvements by creating the “Business One-Stop” program, we need and can do more.

There are always opportunities to improve transparency and, through this, accountability. The renovation of the community center and the golf club are two municipal projects where we can be transparent and provide proactive, consistent communication from start to finish. At the project’s conclusion, we should consider conducting a self-audit to ensure taxpayers understand the outcomes, expenses, and their impact on the tax burden and town financials.

If you could wave a magic wand and do one thing in Westborough, what would it be?

We must look at our sewer capacity and find ways to expand it. We are starting to see where business and residential projects are limited, delayed, or lost because of the town’s limited sewer capacity.