Flaherty Makes For Three-Way Race For Selectman

Mark Flaherty was the third and final candi­date to jump in the race for Board of Selectmen in the annual town election in May, along with current board member Jim Lehan and challenger Scott Bugbee.

Flaherty, 29, manages his family’s KMK Clean­ers store in Westwood. He is a veteran of the Unit­ed States Air Force and has served in the United States Army National Guard. He is also commander of American Legion Post 335 in Norfolk.

Asked why he is running for selectman, Fla­herty said he is concerned about tax increases in town, and that he wonders if the state will come through on its portion of the cost for the new el­ementary school. “We voted that we needed to build a new school and we were told that the state would help pay for the school. With the state being broke it makes me wonder how they are going to pay for part of the school. I believe that taxes will need to be raised in town to cover the cost of the school. I do not sup­port

a tax increase to pay for the school,” Flaherty said in an email message. “This state is taxing us too much as it is so we need to keep the town’s taxes as low as possible.” He also cited the poor condition of some of the town’s roads. “As a motorcycle rider I sometimes dread the roads because of all the potholes. We need to fixthe roads in town as well,” Flaherty said. (Initial campaign statements from the other two candidates, Lehan and Bugbee, were published in previous issues of The Norfolk Boomerang.) The annual town election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 11.