Candidates Draw Distinctions At LWV Debate

Those still undecided in Westford's rapidly approaching town election got a little help on Thursday night.

All four candidates for the Board of Selectmen's two seats gathered at the J.V. Fletcher Library to face the voters in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and broadcast live on Westford Community Access Television.

As expected, there were marked differences when it came to two of the most talked about issues during the lead up to Town Meeting: Fiscal Year '15 and the Article 30 debate.

On the latter issue, all four candidates agreed that Article 30 turned out to be a mistake, with incumbents Bob Jefferies and Andrea Peraner-Sweet saying that the article ultimately got away from its original intent, while challengers Scott Hazelton and Jim Jarvie providing harsher opinions.

While Hazelton called the measure "well intentioned" but "not thought through", noting that if passed, the article would have banned weapons more than a century old, while Jarvie had a stronger opposition to the effort.

"Article 30 was an assault on civil rights and lawful gun owners, it was a distraction," he said. "I really think that was a poor choice. I definitely did not support that and would not support articles that are written by folks who don't understand the topic."

Jarvie also saw the effort as a distraction from the looming issues with Fiscal Year '15, where he said he would not yet be able to support an override until more research had been done on the school budget as well as obtaining free assistance from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue to audit the town's expenses.

Hazelton and Peraner-Sweet agreed that a thorough analysis was needed, with Hazelton frequently citing regionalization of capital expenditures such as specialized fire equipment as well as renting versus owning as ideas, and Peraner-Sweet noting possible consolidation of town buildings, bulk purchasing and continued rebidding of contracts.

On this topic, Jefferies focused instead on attempting to get the state to fully fund education expectations, particularly special education mandates, citing later in the evening that 25 percent of Westford's population is enrolled in a public school compared to 18 percent among its neighbors and a 14 percent town average.

The only other real topic where the candidates differed was when it came to the proposed new fire station, sharing similar views on opposing expanded sandwich board provisions in the sign bylaw, hoping to increase volunteerism and public participation in civic events, and maintaining the town's character.

On the fire station topic, Hazelton believed that the station should be either on Route 110 or Boston Road to allow the current location of the center fire station to be used for town center parking instead of building a substation in Parker Village.

The other three candidates believed that more analysis would be needed on the topic, which must be addressed within the next two years according to an agreement for site plan approval for Cornerstone Square, or otherwise the town would receive money for only a fire truck instead of a new fire station.

The debate also included questions for candidates in some of this spring's uncontested elections: Kathleen Canavan and Elizabeth "Buffie" Diercks for Library Trustee, Susan Hanly for the Board of Health, and Arthur Benoit and Tom Clay for the School Committee.

In particular Benoit and Clay addressed questions from the audience regarding the continuing issues regarding the school budget and the environment teachers currently face.

"I think we have to continue to be fair to our employees," said Benoit. "Would I want to go to a place where there isn't a raise every year and not everyone is happy around me? Why would I want to go into that environment and why would I want to put my children in that environment?"

Clay agreed, noting his conversations with teachers he has had on the campaign trail.

"When I talked to teachers about why they came to Westford, money was third or fourth on the list," he said. "The thing they brought up most commonly is respect from the town and they they're being fairly paid, not looking one town over and getting paid $5,000 less than they should be."

Clay went on to say that he aims to have a series of small discussions with residents on the issues of the budget, in particular whether or not an override is required in future years.