Compiled by The Bedford Citizen
The Citizen is proud to bring you, our readers, final campaign statements from the candidates on the ballot for Bedford’s 2017 Town Election on March 11.
Click each candidate’s name for their contact information and their original campaign statements. To read the candidates’ answers to The Bedford Citizen’s questions click this link for the candidates who are running unopposed, and this link to read about the three candidates for the two available seats on the Board of Library Trustees.
FINAL CANDIDATE STATEMENTS
Michael A. Rosenberg
Incumbent and Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a Selectman
Mr. Rosenberg’s Final Statement
I grew up in Vermont, so I learned at an early age about the sanctity of small-town government. When I began covering Bedford selectmen’s meeting for The Minuteman in June 1974, I already had not only an understanding but also a respect for the process and the people who made it happen. Heck, it was more than respect – these people were giants to me. Louise Maglione, the town’s first woman selectman. Frank Gicca and Eric Ellingson, regional corporate leaders who devoted hundreds of hours to town government. Robert Barton, whose skills as moderator became well known on the superior court bench. Carol Amick, my newspaper predecessor and a political role model. Bob Frenier, unafraid to rock the boat as a selectman – and today a newly-elected member of the Vermont House of Representatives.
I could go on, but you get the point. Over the years I have not been compromised by time or cynicism. Municipal government remains not only an awesome responsibility, but also a source of personal and community fulfillment. And most of it can be great fun.
One of the great strengths of a town the size of Bedford is that one or two people can have an idea and, with good systems of support, nurture it to a reality that improves the quality of life for the community. We see examples of this every day, from the in-tow transit system, the dignity or our memorials to veterans, and the range of affordable housing options to the food pantry, the many friends organizations and the concern that so many showed for the well being of families in transitional housing on the Great Road. I cherish the opportunity to work with residents and their ideas.
The town is blessed with institutions that enhance the richness of everyday life. The Air Force not only is an economic engine; it is the source of a culture of learning and of giving back. Middlesex Community College is the flagship of the state system and an invaluable resource for thousand of individuals and families and for the economy. We have been fortunate to serve as host for a VA medical center for almost 90 years; the Bedford facility is consistently ranked among the best in the VA system.
I feel privileged and proud to be a part of all this.
Edward Pierce
Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a Selectman
Mr. Pierce’s Final Statement
The hole that is being created by the retirement of Selectman Mark Siegenthaler is enormous. He has expertly guided the Town as a Selectman for the past 21 years. I expect, if elected, that I will have a lot to learn as a Selectman. We will continue to need to manage our resources, maintain our buildings, parks, roads, sewers and water. Provide safety and health services. Attract and encourage businesses to Bedford. Provide services for the youth to our seniors. Recruit, retain and promote an excellent workforce. I believe my previous experience with the school committee, finance committee, recreation commission and my business experience will provide me the base to help learn to be a Selectman. I ask for your vote on March 11.
Ann E. Guay
Incumbent and Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a member of the School Committee
Ms. Guay’s Final Statement
In closing, I want to let you know what a privilege it is for me to be a member of the Bedford School Committee. I have decided to share a portion of the Welcome Back Remarks I made to the teachers back in September as the school year was about to start. I believe it captures my thoughts on why the Bedford Schools are a wonderful place to learn:
Most families in town will tell you they came here for the schools. We are no exception. People in Bedford are proud of the fact that we have excellent schools and support them. Yesterday while standing in Whole Foods, I saw September’s Issue of Boston Magazine – the headline reads
WE RANK THEM, the TOP 50 Public High Schools….I already knew that Bedford High was ranked No. 9 on the list but decided to buy it and read it more closely. As a member of the School Committee, I was happy to see that Boston Magazine recognized what a strong district Bedford is. I looked over the methodology and considered the data. Small classrooms, student-teacher ratios, standardized test scores, Average SAT scores, AP classes, varsity sports teams, and graduation and college attendance rates. Bedford’s numbers are terrific and yet I think it offers an incomplete picture.
Yes, we have many amazing students who take very challenging classes, play varsity sports and go on to wonderful universities. But that is only part of the Bedford story. We also have students who face tremendous challenges and must overcome barriers in order to learn. We have students with mental illness, autism, learning disabilities. Some students have parents who are seriously ill or have passed away. Families struggle with addiction or find it difficult to make ends meet. We have students whose parents have faced multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Until very recently, we had a number of students who were living in hotels after experiencing homelessness. Some had spent years in refugee camps, all had known hunger and worried about where they would live. And yet, all of these students are and were so fortunate to go to school in Bedford, where teachers and administrators make the needs of all students here a priority.
And yet so much of the work you do is not required and often goes unnoticed. You buy school supplies and snacks for students who cannot afford them, gifts for needy families at Christmas, stash Halloween costumes in your closets at Davis for the Halloween Parade so that students who cannot afford them can still march, you sit in windowless with parents whose children have received a diagnosis of autism and give them hope when all seems lost. You come in early and stay late so that students who need help can come and ask questions. You encourage boys and girls to go out for the play, take up an instrument or even run track after they are cut from the basketball team. And sometimes, you just create the only part of the day where life actually follows a schedule.
For these and so many other reasons, Bedford is a wonderful place to go to school.
I hope you will vote for me on March 11th.
Thank you.
Sarah A. Scoville
Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a member of the School Committee
Ms. Scoville’s Final Statement
I’m Sarah Scoville and I’m excited to tell you about my candidacy for Bedford, MA School Committee.
I am an art teacher and community organizer. Being a full time high school art teacher was my focus for 10 years. I have a Bachelors in Fine Arts and a Master’s in Education. Over the past several years I have been home with my children. While caring for them I have put energy into community organizing and volunteering. I’m open minded, love problem solving, I understand systems well, and I’m proud to be a connector. I sat on the board of the Bedford Family Connection, participated in the Bedford Hotel / Housing Taskforce, and worked with BEST as the Davis Art Room liaison. I’m currently chairing the board of the St. Paul’s Nursery School and am on the vestry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
My husband Bob and I have three children: a fourth grader, first grader, and preschooler. They have varied learning styles. My fourth grader and first grader have responded well to conventional teaching. In contrast my preschooler is a very imaginative and visual learner. She struggles with word retrieval and she receives great Speech and Occupational Therapy through Bedford. I’m just learning the IEP Special Education processes. Because of their different styles of learning I appreciate differentiated teaching and learning.
Preserving and strengthening art education is very important to me, especially for teaching creative expression, creative thinking, and problem solving, in addition to the different elements of the common core. I’m glad that holding on to the art spaces have been a priority as the town of Bedford has grown and the space in the schools is getting tighter.
My educational philosophy combines the importance of art education with differentiated learning to create project based learning. Project based learning is child centered, so the teacher can reach each child where they are – add challenge for the high achievers and accommodations for the child with learning differences. For example, the 4th graders at Lane recently worked with a group called Revels to learn about and then perform a play about immigration.
I care about the needs of vulnerable children in our school system. I worked for many years to help the homeless families that lived at the Bedford Plaza Hotel. The state is no longer placing homeless families at the hotel, but there are certainly families still living in Bedford who struggle to make ends meet. I would like to be a voice in support of their children’s education and success.
I am very committed to helping the community of Bedford. In the seven years that I have lived in Bedford I have fallen in love with its community. I was welcomed by the Bedford Family Connection when I first moved to town. The Bedford teachers and schools impressed me by working very hard to welcome the homeless children that lived at the Bedford Plaza Hotel. The residents of Bedford are proud to live here. Recently their pride has fueled their energy to save parts of town they care about like Fawn Lake and Springs Brook Park. I have met many great people while volunteering who have all been generous with their time to make Bedford’s community thrive.
Please come out on Saturday March 11, 2017 and vote. Reminder – there are two candidates, Ann Guay and Sarah Scoville, running for two open seats on the School Committee. I know and respect Ann Guay, who has been serving on the school committee. I would be grateful for you to vote for both of us.
Jacinda ‘Cindy’ Barbehenn
Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a member of the Planning Board
Ms. Barbehenn’s Final Statement
If elected to the town’s planning board I would hope to promote a variety of development efforts, fostering a balance between the economic growth and stability of the town with the maintenance and improvement of the quality of life for its citizens.
- In addition to continuing the town’s efforts to expand public transportation options, I would work towards a more connected community by advancing efforts to make the town more walkable and bike-able, leveraging the town’s already existing trail system and treating it as fundamental infrastructure asset as well as a recreational and health resource.
- I would encourage public/private partnerships and collaborative efforts between community groups and businesses in the pre planning stages of new development projects. I would also encourage and facilitate interactions between community groups and already established businesses to further connect and enhance the physical relationships between the two in ways that would be win-wins for both.
- I would work at the larger metropolitan level to advocate for Bedford, finding ways through regional partnerships to help alleviate non productive through traffic. I would also like to engage local tech companies working in the transportation area to come up with cutting edge, cost effective solutions to further mitigate traffic in and through our town.
- And on the housing front, I would advocate for more creative in-fill building and zoning options to provide more opportunities for down sizers and young families to buy and live in town.
I would appreciate your vote on March 11.
Thank you for your consideration.
Timothy K. Gray, Jr.
Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a member of the Planning Board
Mr. Gray did not prepare a final statement but refers readers to his comprehensive statement in the link attached to his name.
Rachel Field
Incumbent and Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a Library Trustee
Ms. Field’s Final Statement
Bad libraries build collections
Good libraries build services
Great libraries build communities
I’m thrilled, on behalf of the Library and the community of Bedford, that we have three such wonderful candidates for Library Trustee. It’s a reflection of the community spirit that is one of the hallmarks of our community. But I am asking that you vote for me, on March 11.
I have served as Library Trustee for 9 of the 18 years I’ve lived in Bedford, and have brought leadership, energy and creativity to the Board. I helped draft some of the basic Library policies; worked closely with staff to enhance our film collection; took the initiative of obtaining a list of the languages spoken in our schools – twenty seven, at last count – and suggested ways for the Library to better reflect and celebrate the breadth of diversity here in Bedford. I also created a task force on exterior design to make our grounds more user-friendly, bringing in new teak seating and commissioning the outdoor chess tables our patrons now enjoy.
But a library is more than a building and more than its collection. There’s an adage that says: “The most important asset of any library goes home at night – the staff.” I wholeheartedly concur.
As Chair of the Board, I reached out with a conscientious ear to staff members about issues that had been brought to the Trustees, and I suggested ways to enhance our collegial and supportive environment.
I was an integral part of creating the town-wide survey we conducted last year, and of developing the new 5-year Strategic Plan we submitted to the Board of Library Commissioners. My sights are now set on future challenges, which include:
- ensuring that our programming, services, and resources respond to the needs of our growing, and increasingly diverse, community.
- obtaining support for public art projects, including library-themed mosaics to decorate exterior walls that are now uninspiring bare cement.
- fostering closer collaboration between Library, Bedford Public Schools and other town boards – the Board of Health in particular – for the creation of community-wide campaigns around the opioid crisis that has landed squarely at our doorstep, and around the issues of discrimination and violence.
- creatively reconfiguring our space to provide more study and small meeting areas, as well as space for new technologies, as we strive to become a more vibrant nexus of collaboration and innovation.
To the above I would add that, should they be in any way threatened, I will devote myself to safeguarding both our Municipal and State funding, and will stalwartly support the principle of, and the public right to, intellectual freedom.
Two of our current Trustees came on board only last year. Should I continue to serve, I will provide an historical perspective, an “institutional memory” and a continuity that are all critically important to the Board of Trustees.
I hope to count on your enthusiastic support, and your vote, on March 11!
Sarita K. Pillai
Candidate for a 3-year term as a Library Trustee
Ms. Pillai’s Final Statement
Bedford is fortunate to have an abundance of qualified candidates for its open positions. I am an ardent supporter of the public library enterprise and believer that public libraries are important contributors to high-quality public education. I will work tirelessly on your behalf to ensure that BFPL maintains a robust and vibrant collection. I will work to encourage BFPL to consider a broader range of activities that expose our children to both STEM and the arts, and to also consider adding events that would speak to our increasingly diverse community. I will strive to ensure that the needs of patrons drive every question the BFPL asks of itself and every change it. considers. I will thoughtfully offer my informed opinion and guidance on issues relating to technology integration and the best use of physical space throughout the library. The library is doing a great job in these areas but new ideas and perspectives can always lead to improvement.
BFPL remains critical to Bedford’s social, cultural and educational well-being. I believe my experience as a non-profit leader and running several long-term educational, technology-based projects for the last 15 years, will enable me to be a productive, forward looking, patron-focused Trustee.
Your vote is an important part of Bedford’s democratic process and symbolic of your commitment to the vibrancy of this great town. I hope you will support my candidacy but, most importantly, I hope that you will come out to vote on March 11!
Robin Grace Silbert
Candidate for a 3-year term as a Library Trustee
Ms. Grace’s Final Statement
Over the last week, I’ve been thinking about what the library means to me personally and what I would bring to the board and the community. What occurs to me is that the library has been an evolving place for me as I’ve moved through the different stages of my life:
When I was young and living in public housing, it was my refuge and window on the world.
When I went away to college, the library was the place I went to do research and for a quiet place to study.
After college and faced with student debt, the library became even more important to me as a place to borrow books, though I still bought books. Like Erasmus, “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.”
When I was a newspaper reporter for the Middlesex News, I went to the library to research articles or to cover library events.
When I taught elementary school in Boston, we had a wonderful school library where teachers gathered to chat and eat lunch. But we also found time to take out books to read to our students. And of course, there were our weekly class visits.
When I became a tour manager, the library became an important center of research.
When scheduled for a major tour, you received a comprehensive information packet and were sent on a training tour, but it was imperative to do your own research and reading to grasp the social, political, geographical and historical aspects of the destination. Do I dare tell you where that research began? It began in the children’s and young adult areas because when you needed to learn a little about a lot, in that bygone era before the internet, that was the place to start.
As the mother of preschoolers, the library became a morning out and a time to introduce my boys to a place that had been formative for me. During those visits, the kids enjoyed attending programs and then choosing a few books before we returned home. When my children started school, it became an after-school or Saturday destination. By the time my boys were in middle school, I was demoted to designated driver so the library then became a place to meet with my writing group or to be tutored in French – yes, I am a struggling adult foreign language learner.
Now that my sons are in college, I look for audio books for my drives to Philadelphia and Maryland. And there is the work I do for the Friends’ book sales. Add to that my ongoing search for books on topics that I can fully invest in now: travel, volunteering in retirement, quilting, my beloved mysteries. It seems my time is once again my own and my relationship with the library has come full circle. It has once again become my refuge and window on the world.
My prime goal as a trustee would be to insure that the Bedford Public Library continues to be a welcoming, enriching and nurturing place for all who walk through its doors just as libraries have been for me throughout my life.
Mary E. Seymour
Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a member of the Board of Health
Ms. Seymour’s Final Statement
[I am]
- Experienced
- Results driven
- Strong communication skills
- Long-term resident
My 40 years in a fast paced, high-pressure career in health care has given me valuable experience and a transferrable skill set. Preparation, planning, communicating and listening to understand in order to respond in a responsible manner when carrying out the mission and goals of the Board, are qualities I possess. As a long term resident, I have benefited from the many wise decisions made by the governing bodies within our Town. Bedford has progressed and moved forward as a desired, diverse, thriving urban community. This success has led to rapid growth and changes creating new concerns and challenges felt by all.
The Board of Health must balance the individual interests of residents and business, protect the health of our community while addressing evolving demands for healthier lifestyles and health issues. These include such as substance abuse, an aging population, the environment, concerns, tick and mosquito-borne illnesses and social health.
My leadership experience has led to successful implementation of health services, programs and community health activities (health fairs, screenings, education programs, etc.). I am a team player with the experience and skills to work with diverse groups and sensitive situations. I am a thoughtful listener and decisive decision maker, as well as a lover of gardening and a strong advocate of improving our environment.
As a member, I will accept the responsibilities of meeting the mission and goals set by the Board. My contribution will be to support the values of collaboration and consultation with others. As the Town plans and prepares for the future, I will promote inclusiveness, balance change with the needs of residents while exploring new initiatives and practices as they relate to the Board of Health.
Ann A. Kiessling-Cooper *
Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term as a member of the Board of Health
Zoe Pierce
Incumbent and Caucus Candidate for a 3-year term on the Board of Assessors
Ms. Pierce’s Final Statement
Elected members of the Board of Assessors are required to be certified by the State in “Assessing 101” and it’s the only volunteer position in a municipality that has such an educational mandate. I think this is important because the process of assessing property value goes right to the core of taxation and an individual’s right to dispute the tax. There is little time for a learning curve. I am extremely lucky to have worked with such a seasoned Board for the past few years. In that time, we have hired a new Assessor, and worked on developing the existing staff. We have also continued to reach out to the community to ensure that the abatement and exemption processes are clearly understood. Professionally, serving on this Board has made me a better and more valuable Treasurer. Personally, to give back, in a meaningful way, to the Town that has become my home, means the world to me. I would be honored to serve the Town for another three years.
Jane Puffer
Incumbent and Caucus Candidate for a 5-year term as a member of the Housing Authority
Ms. Puffer did not prepare a final statement but refers readers to her comprehensive statement in the link attached to her name.
* Editor’s Note, with apologies: Because of an error on the part of The Bedford Citizen, candidate information for Ann Kiessling will not appear.
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