In a gentler local election cycle, candidates square off
From First Parish to cyberspace, town candidates have been hitting the campaign trail as election day nears.
From First Parish to cyberspace, town candidates have been hitting the campaign trail as election day nears.
In a Select Board race that could come down to the wire, office-seekers are lauding cooler heads while still calling out differences.
“The drumbeat continues,” Dean Banfield said before the second of four candidate Q&A sessions last week.
He shook hands with his opponent, Sam Hiersteiner, in the pre-event milieu.
“It just doesn’t seem as divisive as last year,” Banfield told The Acton Bridge.
“Let’s be thankful for that,” Hiersteiner said.
Faults and fissures
Banfield has emphasized his experience throughout town government.
Hiersteiner has pushed to bring a younger generation of Concordians into the mix and has touted his communications expertise as a resume highlight.
On the issues, Hiersteiner said he could help attract business leaders to Acton to take some of the current tax burden off residential taxpayers.
Banfield sees some opportunity for a commercial strip at the shuttered MCI-Acton prison, but he told attendees at a Acton Climate Action Network event that he thinks the Select Board would be “misdirected” if it tried to focus on that kind of growth.
Acton’s location has made it hard to attract businesses, he said: “We’re basically a bedroom community.”
Town officials are discussing what to do with failing public works and public safety buildings.
Hiersteiner said he’s worried about giving up “prime commercial space” at the former prison for a possible new public works headquarters.
Banfield called a prison public works HQ a “pretty reasonable choice” but said officials should get more input from West Concordians.
A recent audit found fault with town accounting practices. “That ship has been turned around,” Banfield said. He said the “Finance Department is on a very steady course right now” under new Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Barrett.
Hiersteiner said he didn’t have an immediate answer to financial problems but said Acton has “some challenges on accountability when it comes to town leadership.”
He wouldn’t commit to extending the controversial residential tax exemption while he waits for a final report from the town’s Tax Relief Evaluation Task Force. He signaled concerns about the program at a Council on Aging forum and called for “better fiscal foresight and planning.”
Undecided voters
Banfield is focusing on in-person campaigning and has generally stayed off social media. Hiersteiner has kept busy online but also held in-person events.
Dozens showed up to hear hopefuls at the COA session.
Philip Dee said he’s concerned about housing and wanted to know where candidates stand on preserving historic prison buildings. Moments before the event, he said he was undecided.
Concordian Shelley Amster said she wants better communication from town officials. She said her Select Board favorite changed as a result of the COA questioning but declined to share her new choice.
Education technology executive Drew Magliozzi is running for School Committee. Finance Committee Clerk Karlen Reed is seeking the town moderator’s gavel. Stephan Bader is pursuing reelection to the Housing Authority.
Though they’re unopposed, the candidates joined last week’s forums by the League of Women Voters, ConcordCAN, the Acton Business Partnership, and the COA.
Magliozzi is looking ahead to a busy term.
“The campaign is step zero,” he told The Bridge.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31.
Ballot basics
However you plan to cast your ballot, the clock is ticking down on this year’s town election.
The Town Clerk’s Office is holding no-excuse-needed, in-person early voting at the Town House today, Friday, March 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Staff will offer in-person absentee voting tomorrow, Saturday, March 28, from 10 a.m. to noon, also at the Town House at 22 Monument Square.
You can check your voter registration status, and if you want to vote in person on election day this coming Tuesday, you can locate your polling place via sec.state.ma.us.
The deadline to request a mail-in ballot has passed. Anyone who already has their ballot must return it using the provided envelope by the close of polls at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31.
Voters can drop off ballots at the Town Clerk’s Office or in the dropbox outside the Town House.
Stay with The Acton Bridge online and in print for the latest election coverage.
