By Rob St. Germain

Contributing writer

Elections Matter. Right?   The policies that our elected officials make affect our lives for better or worse.  With so much attention focused on the Federal elections there seems to be little time to think about your local government – but perhaps you should.

The things outside your front door and the services you depend on are managed by your local officials.  The list includes streets, police, firefighters, schools, library, trash and recycling, and for most of us water and sewer.  To that add inspection services for your home, licensing of vendors and restaurants, speed limits, town personnel, and what you pay in fees and taxes. The list is long.

Town government is our purist form of democracy. Simply stated, WE are the government.  We have a say in where our dollars are going and who spends them.  Amongst the several committees and boards that are elected, the Select Board (SB) has the most responsibility, and all five members urge you to be a part of the process.

Ashland is fortunate to have the SB members that we do.  They are diverse in their skills and experience: three have considerable business experience, one was a teacher, and another a police officer. The least amount of time any of them have been in Ashland is 18 years; one has lived his entire life here.  They are savvy, aware, serious, and very responsible.  All five have expressed their desire to listen and engage with the rest of us.  Spend time with any one of them and you will get a sense of their love for this community.  Collectively, they display positive energy tempered only by the challenges the town faces.

Ashland – The Current Reality

“The beauty of living in a town like Ashland is the sense of community, the level of caring,” offered Makeda Keegan, the newest member of the SB.  “Ashland is a fantastic place to live.”  We have fine schools, an excellent library, an upgraded downtown, a new public safety building, well-maintained streets, decent restaurants and other fine vendors, and very responsive police, fire and town staff.  A quick reading of the Town Manager’s Weekly Newsletter will acquaint you with a host of other services and cultural events too numerous to list in this article.  All-in-all, we have it good!  

But there is a downside.  Our infrastructure is pretty much maxed out.  Water, sewer, road capacity – none of them can handle much more growth.  Growth, however, is inevitable!  A couple decades ago, former SB member John Ellsworth told the townspeople that they needed to get used to that fact.   The population was 13,000 at the time.   It is currently 19,000 and will likely be several thousand more by the end of the decade.  

Whether we like it or not, urbanization happens.  Natick now has representative town meeting due to its population of 36,500.   Framingham, with its population over 72,000, transformed to a City structure.  Ashland is the next town to the West.  

The state has a dire need for additional housing, especially affordable housing. Cape Cod real estate, for example, is so expensive that many of their town employees can’t afford to live there.  Ashland is approaching that level.   We also have a high proportion of seniors living on fixed incomes.   Every year the demand grows for more town services. Things like less traffic congestion, even better roads, more athletic facilities and more sidewalks.  But, funding is limited.  

“Ashland does not have the proverbial money tree behind the town hall,” observed Joe Magnani, who at 15 years is the longest serving of the current SB members.   “We will have to find compromises, trade-offs, as we do our best to balance growth while maintaining the character of the town,” added Joe – a comment echoed by the other four members.

Trade-offs and compromise mean that sometimes we must give up some of what is important to us.  As citizens we need to mirror the SB and be flexible and willing to work to understand the larger picture.  

Yolanda Greaves, SB Chair and 12 years on the Board, is fiscally conservative.  She, like most of us, is resistant to more taxes.  Yet, when the town manager proposed a town meals tax, she voted yes. “It just made sense,” commented Yolanda. “It paid for 25% of the Route 126 engineering which showed the state how important the redevelopment project was.  The meals tax also funded our business development effort which has brought more vitality to the town.”   Flexibility and understanding appear to be the key skills going forward.

Navigating into the Future

“There are no easy answers,” declared Brandi Kinsman, 5-year SB member and 18-year resident.  “We need a high-level of community engagement and buy-in like what we are striving for in the current Comprehensive Planning Process.”   

Claudia Bennett, 2-year SB member and 35-year resident, agreed.  “The Comprehensive Plan will be our blueprint.  It will guide our decision making.”  But the now 60% complete planning process will be only a reference point.    “We will need lots of input along the way,” said Claudia, “and understanding.”

“People should not come to us to rant,” offered Joe.  “That is not constructive.”  It seldom is, but additional information, constructive suggestions, and shared insights help bring people together. Those are the attributes of successful collaborative process.

Democracy, by definition, is participative.  Abraham Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg Address used the phrase, “—and that government of the people, by the people and for the people”.  The Select Board alone cannot / should not create the Future Ashland.  That outcome is in all OUR hands.