Community Activities:

• Winchester Finance Committee: 5 years (2018-Present), Chair (2021), Vice Chair (2020)

• Winchester Town Manager Search Committee Chair (2022)

• Winchester Transfer Station Working Group (2022)

• Waterfield Task Force, Finance Committee Liaison (2021)

• Energy Management Committee, Finance Committee Rep (2019-2020)

• Town Meeting Member (2021, 2022)

What Winchester issues do you think are most important?

Our biggest challenge as a Town is balancing our property tax level with rising town costs, especially for our capital program.   Winchester already has one of the highest average tax bills per household in Massachusetts, increasing next year with the recent Lynch override.  It’s critical that we prioritize our goals and make balanced decisions in upcoming budget cycles to avoid large property tax increases in the next couple of years, across several key goals:

• Ensuring our schools remain a key asset and great place for our children to thrive

• Funding and maintaining our town buildings, roads, Transfer Station, and other infrastructure

• Diversifying our tax base to include more commercial revenue opportunities

Of those important issues, which one do you feel most passionate about, and what is your position on that issue?

The Capital Planning Committee highlighted our acute needs for our town infrastructure in last year’s Fall Town Meeting.  While Winchester has funding in place to support town assets including buildings, roads, schools, etc, that funding has not kept pace with what’s needed.  This lack of funding has forced us into a reactive policy where we only fund projects once they are truly critical. As part of the Finance Committee, I have spent a lot of time understanding our capital needs and working with the CPC to come up with a proactive, long-term strategy, and look forward to getting proposals to review at Spring Town Meeting in April.

What does Winchester do well and what might be improved?

Winchester does a lot of things well.  It has a strong school system, a great downtown, and beautiful public spaces.  Those things coupled with its proximity to Boston make Winchester an incredible place to live, and I would love the opportunity to represent Precinct 1 as we work to make it even better.

The Town Meeting Communications Study Committee has recommended that a written communications plan be prepared and a town communications manager be appointed by FY2025 (https://www.winchester.us/DocumentCenter/View/9219/Communications-Study-Commiteee_Final-Report_Recommendations). Do you support both recommendations, even if they would involve adding a new full-time position (salary and benefits) to the town budget? If not, what alternative ideas do you suggest?  

As an active participant in Town government for 5 years, I agreed wholeheartedly with the Communications Study findings and conclusions.  Specifically:

• Currently it is very difficult to get clear information on everything going on across all the Town boards, committees, and town services.  

• Our website doesn’t provide good search capabilities, and most key documents are not online even if you try to search for them.

• Town Meeting members are not given enough resources for information and regular updates to stay informed without investing significant time.  

I am very supportive of funding one-time costs to revamp the website, and work with committees and Town staff to set up better communication mechanisms and templates.  Before creating a new position, I would like to hear more from the Town Manager on her response to the Study’s findings.  And as always, we need to weigh this new position not as a standalone proposal, but against all other needs of the Town, such as schools, our long-term capital plan, and the recent traffic study 

I look forward to helping support that conversation for Precinct 1.