Candidates’ Night Part 2: Board of Selectmen

Four Wayland residents are vying for two spots up for grabs on the town’s Board of Selectmen when voters go to the polls for the Town Election on April 3.

Thursday night, the four candidates took to the stage in the Large Hearing Room of the Wayland Town Building for the 62nd Annual Candidates’ Night, sponsored by the Wayland League of Women Voters.

Chris Brown, Doug Leard, Ed Collins and incumbent Sue Pope offered opening statements before responding to a wide variety of questions from the audience and LWV members, several of which focused on taxes.

All four candidates expressed an interest in controlling Wayland’s tax rate, but none of them were in favor of implementing a split residential/commercial tax rate at this time.

“My fear would be that you’d end up driving business out,” Leard said.

Brown said that he would want to consider a split tax rate in the future, but agreed that the time for it isn’t now.

The candidates later disagreed regarding a menu override as a possible means to impact the tax rate. Both Pope and Brown said they would oppose a menu override, which would allow residents to decide on a line item, by line item basis for what they want to approve an override.

“Wayland is one town. We should all work together,” Pope said. “If an override is going to be done, it should be done for everything.”

Leard, however, said he had “some reservations” about a menu override, but “would tend to support” it.

And Collins said he trusted voters to think about the greater good of the town and that they would not always vote simply for items that served their own agendas.

“I support the notion of a menu override,” Collins said. “People ought to know precisely what they’re voting on.”

As for this year’s budget, the candidates weighed in on whether they supported the proposed school budget, which accounts for the largest portion of the town’s overall budget.

 “I do support the school budget,” Pope said. “I’m very pleased with the system and I think that’s what makes Wayland the special town that it is. When my children were going through, some older person supported it before for my children, so it’s my turn.”

The other candidates agreed, though Collins did wonder whether a proposed Wayland Middle School roof replacement should be put off until state funds could be secured.

A questioner also wondered how the four candidates felt about Wayland boards' handling of the Open Meeting Law in light of several accusations of violations in the past year.

All the candidates said they found the law to be important, and Pope,  acknowledging that the current Board of Selectmen had been found in violation of the law and fined for it, assured the audience that town officials do take the law seriously.

“We admitted our error and we paid a fee,” Pope said of the violation, adding that selectmen don't walk to their cars in groups of three or more after a meeting for fear of being seen as violating the law. “We really don’t have any hidden agendas on this."

Leard said he was a firm believer in providng public information to the public in an appropriate manner, but said there was no way to control human behavior.

"We're responsible for our own actions," Leard said.

This is the second of three articles covering Candidates’ Night 2012. Part 1, focusing on the Housing Authority, is . Part 3, focusing on the Recreation Commission, will publish on Sunday, March 25.