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Date: 9/3/2015
EAST?LONGMEADOW – At its Aug. 25 meeting, the Planning Board interviewed three candidates to fill a one-year term seat vacated by former Planning Board Chair Alessandro Meccia, who officially stepped down from the position on Sept. 1.
Meccia announced his intention to resign in June due to the Board of Selectmen’s decision in May to cancel health insurance for elected officials. The selectmen’s decision went into effect on June 30 and included the option for individuals affected by the change to fully pay for COBRA health insurance for up to 18 months.
Meccia was elected to a five-year term in 2011 in an uncontested race. His term expires in 2016.
Meccia said the initial plan was to host a joint meeting between the selectmen, which has also sought applicants to the position, and to announce a decision during the meeting.
However, he noted the selectmen canceled the joint meeting and the Planning Board continued its interviews. A joint meeting between the two boards is anticipated to take place Sept. 8 in which an appointment would be made.
Selectman Angela Thorpe told Reminder Publications prior to the meeting that any additional applicants would be interviewed on Sept. 8 as well.
The three candidates were Deb Bushnell, John Dickson and former Planning Board member and Selectman Peter Punderson.
Punderson said his “experience speaks a lot” and would allow him to be informed and make decisions based on the town’s bylaws.
“I don’t know if I have a lot of objections to things that have been allowed to have happen in town as far as buildings and so forth ... There’s a real problem with enforcement of bylaws in this town,” he added.
The worst problem in town, according to Punderson is the “us and them” mentality in the town’s government that creates fighting between departments.
“It’s brought about the request for change or at least to look at changing the town government,” he explained.
He added that if he were appointed to the Planning Board he would not seek to run for the Board of Selectmen, which he described as a “dinosaur.”
Punderson, when posed a question about the possibility of changing the zoning bylaws to allowed mixed use purposes by Planning Board member Ralph Page, said if the plan doesn’t create traffic congestion or pressure on residential areas he would “entertain listening to change.”
He added that he would like to see more affordable housing for elderly residents.
Punderson said he does not believe it is the board’s duty to promote commerce in the town; its endeavor is to represent the town’s laws.
He also noted that he does not own a business and has no conflicts of interest.
Dickson said he would bring his 35 years of experience in commercial and residential construction to the board if chosen for the seat.
When posed a question by Planning Board member Michael Carabetta regarding areas of improvement for the board, Dickson said he believes the board should streamline processes between several elected bodies.
“Maybe we can join the boards together and have it as one streamlined system compared to [people] going to different boards [for an issue],” he added. “I’ve seen that work in different other towns.”
Dickson said he believes there would be no potential conflicts of interest because he works mostly with commercial construction in Connecticut and has only built a couple of houses within the town for “people I know.”
He added that he considers himself “pro-construction” and believes that the town needs to support small businesses.
Bushnell said she’s always wanted to be involved with town politics and saw an article by Reminder Publications about the Planning Board vacancy, which led to her decision to apply for the position.
She added that she is a third-generation member of a family owned business in town.
“I will bring freshness, I think,” she noted. “I have intimate blueprint knowledge.”
Bushnell said one of her major concerns with the town is a lack of transparency.
“I think, as a town, we need to work together – not against each other,” she added.
She said she believes the town is doing a good job maintaining growth of local family-run businesses as well as larger ones.
“I think that we, as a town, are doing much better in the past 15 years of brining more people into this town,” she added. “I think we need to do a better job of promoting, ‘shop local’. I don’t see enough of that going on.”
Bushnell said she would recuse herself during a vote if there were a potential conflict of interest while serving on the board.