Selectmen Candidates Take Part in TV9’s “Meet The Candidates”

Three of the candidates running for the two available seats on the board of selectmen in this year’s election met on Wednesday for a taping of “Meet the Candidates” on Seekonk TV9, the local cable access station. The candidates were incumbents David Parker and Gary Sager and challenger David Viera. The fourth candidate, Jeffrey Starr Mararian, declined to participate. Harold Devine served as moderator.

The candidates were given time for opening remarks and then answered several questions submitted by local media. They also made brief closing speeches. Here is a review of some of the items discussed.

Parker, who is running for his third term as selectmen, said one of the most important issues facing Seekonk today is the need to maintain the balance between business and residential.

Viera said the budget and the charter are the most important issues. He said that the charter needs to be looked at and possibly revised. Viera also advocated for getting more people to attend town meeting. He said that 100 people should not be deciding a $44 million budget.

Sagar said he agrees that the charter needs to be looked at. He also wants to restore busing for seniors and work on a location for a new South Fire Station. He added that the quality of life in Seekonk and affordable tax rate are the reasons that so many people want to come to Seekonk.

When asked about the possible need for additional services and classroom space in the town’s schools because of all the new home construction in town, all three candidates praised the school system.

“I think one of the reasons people come to town is the school system. We offer an excellent school system and we need to maintain that,” Viera said. “We’re really not sure how many additional students will be coming to Seekonk. I’m sure if we have an influx of students, we’ll address it at the time,” Viera added.

“We have had declining enrollment for 4 or 5 years, yet we still have one of the best school systems in southeastern Massachusetts. I intend to continue to fund the school system. That’s what brings people here. But we don’t want to lose track of the fact that the businesses pay most of the bills. We can’t be anti-business,” Parker said.

“According to information on the Department of Education website, in this fiscal year, we had 116 fewer students than we had previously … We do have great schools … As far as space (in the schools), there needs to be some discussion going forward about what those needs are,” Sagar said.

The candidates were asked how they would improve communications between the board of selectmen and other town boards and committees.

Viera said the board of selectmen has to be willing to listen, even though they may not have control over the issue. He said the situation with the schools is one example. “This stuff of ‘us vs. them’, ‘town vs. schools’, that has to go away. It’s all one town … We all need to work together – the planning board, the zoning board, the board of health, we all need to start talking,” Viera said.

“I believe communications between the board of selectmen and any board in town, school committee, the planning board, needs to flow through a strong town administrator. I believe the board of selectmen … need not be communicating directly with any board in town, that’s why we have a town administrator. It’s called a chain of command,” Parker said.

The candidates also answered questions on why there is a high turnover of town administrators, whether regionalization of services is possible, whether the candidates would support a moratorium on the sign bylaw, when the Senior Center will be completed and more. TV9 Seekonk will be running the complete “Meet the Candidates” program starting two weeks before the election. Check the schedule on www.tv9seekonk.com for broadcast times.