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Date: 5/27/2021
EAST LONGMEADOW – Three candidates are running for two seats on the East Longmeadow Town Council on June 8. Reminder Publishing asked incumbent Thomas O’Connor, Cassandra Cerasuolo and Connor O’Shea questions about their vision for East Longmeadow and how they plan to tackle issues facing the town.
Reminder Publishing (RP): What are the two most important issues that the town council must tackle in the next 12 months?
Thomas O’Connor: One, that we do not overburden our residents and businesses by increasing taxes uncontrollably. I take everything and everyone into consideration, which includes seniors, empty nesters, young adults, and those with children. Fiscal responsibility is a must for East Longmeadow to thrive.
Two, public safety is an important issue and I want to make sure all of our residents feel safe in our community. We live in a great community and East Longmeadow provides a lot of services. We recently went to a full-time Fire Department offering 24/7 protection and created our own Ambulance Service which has greatly benefited those it has served with a faster response time that contributes to speedier treatment and recovery and potentially saves the lives of our family members, friends, and colleagues. Our Police Department continues to provide excellent service and protection while our children have some of the best teachers in the commonwealth. In addition, our Department of Public Works (DPW) strives to maintain our roadways, sidewalks, and fields with funds our taxpayers can afford.
Cassandra Cerasuolo: Approving a conservative budget for 2022 that accurately addresses the needs of all town residents and having an updated master plan are the two most pressing issues. Both of these will help us plan for our town’s future.
Connor O’Shea: The first issue that the town council must tackle is working better with the school department to appropriately fund the needs of the district and advancing the outcome of the high school’s feasibility study. We know it has been a challenging time for many over the course of the pandemic. Our students deserve the support of the town council to maintain the level of services they need to reintegrate into the classroom effectively. Looking ahead to the outcome of the feasibility study for the high school, which will look at both construction and rehabilitation, the council needs to financially support whichever conclusion the study draws.
The second issue the council ought to look at is economic development and housing. Even before the pandemic, there were many vacant commercial spaces in town from empty storefronts to unused office spaces. We should look into what is keeping existing businesses in town, as well as what is making East Longmeadow an unattractive place for new businesses to fill these spaces compared to our neighboring communities. The housing market is booming, especially for single-family homes in town, but this also creates its own issues. Limited housing stock is driving prices up, which is quickly creating a high cost to entry for new families to move to town.
Additionally, continuously rising valuations generally mean larger tax bills for residents, which can make it less affordable to continue living here, even if the tax rate itself does not appear to rise as dramatically.
RP: Businesses can mean tax revenue increases, but it can also mean commercial development that may change the makeup of the town. What is the right direction to pursue?
O’Connor: Our town is already in a good place and it’s fiscally getting better due to the hard work of my fellow Town Office Officials. We have a great balance of residential with small and medium-sized businesses blending well into our community. Several years ago, our town rejected large commercial development’s, i.e., big box stores.
We also have a great planning board that follows the laws, rules, and direction our town has set forth. They ensure that any new developments are handled responsibly and professionally and fit into our community standards and needs. Very soon we will have an updated Master Plan which will also help to guide our decisions.
Cerasuolo: Businesses do not always mean commercial development. Oftentimes, small businesses are forgotten in this debate and their impact on communities is frequently overlooked.
Additionally, compared to larger businesses, small businesses tend to keep more funds in their communities. East Longmeadow is a small town, and in order to maintain our small-town feeling we need to focus on attracting small businesses and their owners. To work towards this, we should focus on facilitating the process of opening a business for small business owners.
O’Shea: Development is all about balance. Be too restrictive, and the town loses out on many opportunities that our neighboring communities reap the benefits of instead; but be too permissive, and there’s a risk of losing the small-town character that appeals to many.
I am a proponent of mixed-use development, which combines business and residential spaces along with a mix of housing types on the same property. I served on the Planning Matters Subcommittee which reviewed this bylaw proposed by the Planning Board, and the town council ultimately approved it recently. There are many that don’t want to see large swaths of land developed in town. We have all seen many subdivisions go in over the years that have yielded many expensive homes but only serve a relatively low number of people given the amount of land they consume.
Comparatively, promoting higher-density development allows for both more affordable options to those that cannot afford a half-a-million-dollar home and can consume less land, leaving more open space to preserve the character of not being too built-up.
RP: The Town Charter Review was recently completed. Aside from changes that were recommended by the committee, what changes would you like to see in the way the town is run?
O’Connor: My first thought, if anything can be improved at this time is communication, transparency, and accountability to all residents and businesses from every level of town government.
The Charter Review Committee that was appointed by the Town Council last year has just gone through a very extensive year-long process to review our charter line by line. The Town Council and residents had the opportunity to recommend improvements to the Charter during this review. Residents will now vote on these enhancements on June 8th. These changes that were discussed and recommended make our Charter even stronger.
Cerasuolo: The Charter calls for a review every 10 years however society is constantly changing, perhaps there should be a provision to review the charter every 5 years instead.
O’Shea: Revisions to the town charter, and the charter itself, are only as good as the paper they are written on if they are followed. The council/manager form of government is still new to the town compared to our long history of having Town Meeting. I would like to see a stronger adherence to the charter in the spirit of how it was intended.
One such example would be the discontinuation of the town council’s financial oversight committee. Recently, this committee voted to cut the school department’s budget by about $400,000. Ultimately, the town council makes the final vote to take their recommendation or not, but historically the council has seldom swayed from the committee’s recommendations. I find this problematic. While I strongly believe in fostering citizen involvement in local government and a variety of oversight mechanisms, only the council is accountable to the voters in the current appropriation process.
The current process has the perception of holding true to the old days of the appropriation and capital committees. The charter is clear that in addition to being the legislative body of the town, the council also retains appropriation power. I find it odd that shortly after the creation of the town council, a committee was formed to do this work rather than having all councilors involved in this important role.
RP: Why should East Longmeadow residents vote for you?
O’Connor: One, My family and I have lived in East Longmeadow for over 16 years. We also have immediate family members that have lived in East Longmeadow for over 50 years. Through my family, I was taught and learned from their actions the core value of giving back to your community. I have accomplished this through my actions over the years and continued this life of service since moving to town by volunteering my time, expertise, and lifelong perspective on over a dozen different committees and boards and most recently the Town Council.
Two, my business experiences in leadership for fortune 500 companies and other business initiatives that included public safety and small business ownership as well as my experience gained on numerous town committees and boards have enabled me to look at the big picture and all aspects of our great town.
Three, my continuing goal is to strive to make East Longmeadow an even better and affordable place for all residents to live and raise families and for businesses to thrive.
Cerasuolo: I am a local small business owner who is passionate about preserving the authenticity of our town. My aim is to enhance the culture in East Longmeadow by applying what I have learned as a small business owner in our town, as well as what I know from residing in East Longmeadow for over 20 years. My degree in Business Management from Isenberg at UMass Amherst challenges me to apply what I learned to my own career postgraduate. Having recently relocated and expanded my own business, while still remaining in East Longmeadow, I am confident that my brand is heading in positive directions and taking strides towards empowering individuals.
Similarly, I make it a personal goal to take time to mentor young women interested in a range of fields as well as other small business owners. Doing so pushes my boundaries and keeps me involved with the local community. I am familiar with the obstacles that appear during the process of opening up and maintaining a small business in a small town, and I am eager to share what I know with the community. I am driven and ambitious, and I feel confident that I would be a strong addition to the council and can help achieve the goals we have that are undoubtedly going to improve our town.
O’Shea: I am a lifelong resident of East Longmeadow who wants to see the town succeed and responsibly grow over the coming years. I have been an advocate of creating plans for the town’s future and have had the pleasure of serving as chair of the town’s Master Plan Oversight Committee, which is wrapping up the development of the town’s master plan for the next ten years. It is my hope to foster cooperation across town agencies and use the master plan to inform and inspire the decision-making that will shape the future of the town. Getting involved a couple years ago in town government has shown me a wide range of perspectives and needs of residents. Together, we can make East Longmeadow an even better place to live.