Old vs. New

Jim Lehan is Norfolk’s most hands-on town official. Fellow selectman Rob Garrity once referred to Lehan during a board meeting as Norfolk’s “mayor” — half-joking at most.

So it makes sense that Lehan is running on his ex­perience, and that his two challengers, Scott Bugbee and Mark Flaherty, are arguing that Norfolk could use some new blood. The three are vying for a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen, the top board in town that is as close to an executive authority as a small town in Mas­sachusetts has. For Lehan it would be his third consecutive three-year term. Bugbee and Flaherty are seeking their first elected officein Norfolk.

Unlike Lehan’s first reelection campaign three years ago, which featured bitter charges and counter-charges, this campaign season has been tame. None of the candidates has said anything negative about the others.

And while the three men have some policy differ­ences, they aren’t large. The differences center on em­phasis and approach. It’s unusual in Norfolk for a selectman to serve more than two terms in a row, but Lehan said the town can use his financial expertise (he works as a pension fund consultant, after 30 years in the insurance indus­try) in tough times and that he’d like to pursue some of the initiatives he has helped start. “We are in the middle of a lot of things. I have been very involved in a lot of these things. I’d like to see them through. I don’t want to see them fall off the table,” Le­han said. “… I want to see them though, because I think we can make Norfolk a better place.” Bugbee works for a pension fund consulting firmand has experience as a financial planner, which he thinks prepares him well to oversee town budgets. He is most widely known in Norfolk for his years coaching youth soccer. Suggesting Norfolk could use a change is the main theme of Bugbee’s campaign.

“Fresh approach. Fresh ideas. It’s someone new looking at the way things have gone the last six, eight, 10 years. … It never hurts to have fresh eyes on some­thing,” Bugbee said. “… I think it’s important to give Norfolk a choice, and I think a fresh face would be ideal for the town.”

Flaherty touts his time as crew chief for F-16s in the United States Air Force (where he served from 2000 to 2003) as a position of responsibility. He also served in the Army National Guard from January 2008 through January 2009.

He has experience in small business, too. His fam­ily runs KMK Cleaners, which has four locations, and he runs the site in Westwood.

Flaherty is the only candidate who grew up in Nor­folk and went to schools in town. “I feel that I can make a difference in the town. There are a lot of things that need to get fixed that aren’t getting done. … I think the town has a lot of money that they are wasting,” Flaherty said. “… I think that new blood in the officeof selectman and a new face and fresh ideas would help.”

Override Norfolk selectmen are asking voters to consider a $989,000 override of Proposition 2 ½ that would in­crease property taxes about $260 on a home assessed at $400,000. Without it, they say they have to eliminate two police officersand school officials say the elemen­tary schools will lose several teachers.

The proposed override makes for one of the few pol­icy differences among the candidates, although the lines between them are more dotted than boldface.

Lehan voted to bring the override to the voters. Bug­bee says he wouldn’t have done that and that he’s not sure whether he’ll vote for it on Town Meeting floor. Fla­herty is against overrides in general but says he’ll reluc­tantly support this one because police and teachers are at stake.

All three candidates said they’d try to make the bur­den on taxpayers as small as possible before considering any tax increases. As for the particular override coming up, Bugbee said as a selectman he would have voted to stop it. “It’s in­creasing the taxes at a bad time when people don’t have the extra cash to do that,” Bugbee said.

Bugbee said he would scrutinize budgets if elected. “I would first make sure our operating budget is as clean and as efficient as it should be,” Bugbee said. As for his philosophy on overrides, Bugbee said he’d have to consider each situation independently and eval­uate the impact to the town of losing services. Bugbee said that as a selectman he’d be inclined not to support overrides unless the town would otherwise see a dramatic cut in services he considers essential, like public safety and public education. “There are definitely situations where it’s going to have to be needed — if it would dramatically change the character of our town or dramatically affect the bond rating,” Bugbee said.

Lehan said he supports the portions of the proposed override dedicated to keeping two police officers, pro­viding more callback overtime salary funds for firefight­ers, and maintaining teachers. He said he is still mulling a portion of the override that would provide a capital budget of $192,000 for one-time expenses. “We are only recommending putting back funds for the town to mitigate some risk if they choose to do that,” Lehan said. “… There are areas in the budget that I abso­lutely support, because I think the risks are too great.” Lehan said that Proposition 2 1/2 ‘s limitations on increases in a town’s tax levy to 2.5 percent plus allow­ances for new growth doesn’t work unless the state Leg­islature provides enough local aid to help the town keep up with expenses, which in recent times have been out­stripping revenues every year. “So we’re in the hole every year, and that’s why we’ve been cutting every year,” Lehan said. “… We have a rev­enue problem. We don’t have an expense problem.” “… Philosophically, I would prefer to never have an override, because it adds to the burden on the taxpayer. … I’ve done everything in my power to keep those taxes down,” Lehan said. “But if you reach a point where you are dramatically cutting your services, I think the voters have to have a say in that.”

Flaherty acknowledged during the Candidates’ Night forum this past Tuesday night (at King Philip Middle School, sponsored by the Norfolk Community League) that he doesn’t know much about the proposed over­ride. Flaherty said in an interview that his approach to overrides is skeptical.

“I’m fundamentally against an increase in taxes un­less it’s absolutely necessary,” Flaherty said.

As for the override going to Town Meeting in a cou­ple of weeks, Flaherty said maintaining the number of police and teachers is worth a tax increase: “I would have to say raise the taxes as minimal as possible. If that means keeping our emergency services and our educa­tion in place, I guess that’s what we have to do.” Commercial Development Norfolk has two main areas zoned for commercial development: Norfolk Center and Route 1A. In recent years town officials have attempted to streamline per­mitting for both areas and to make infrastructure im­provements in the town center such as allowing property owners to tie into a town stormwater drainage system.

Town officials have also gotten Town Meeting to approve several zoning changes designed to encourage commercial development. The results so far are few. The Walgreens that opened in April is the only new commercial establishment in Norfolk Center in years. But supporters of the efforts say town officials were on the verge of attracting business growth when the economy nosedived about a year and a half ago. Flaherty said he’d like to see more small businesses, especially restaurants, come to Norfolk. To encourage commercial development, he said the town should ease its restrictions. “I think the town is be­ing too restrictive on their requirements and that needs to be lifted,” Flaherty said. Flaherty said that in addition to the town center and Route 1A he’d like to see the former Norfolk Airport zoned to allow small businesses.

Lehan said bringing natural gas to Norfolk Center would encourage restaurants, which in turn would en­courage other types of commercial development.

Lehan said it’s vital for the town to increase the com­mercial portion of its tax base from about 4 percent now to about 12 to 15 percent, which is possible if the town is able to attract development to areas already zoned for commercial use. “It’s a meaningful difference. I don’t hold this out as a panacea to life the burden of the tax rate. … But we can do better than we have. And we’ve got to work harder to get that developed,” Lehan said.

Bugbee said he’d continue the current town policies of trying to entice commercial development in commer­cially zoned areas. “The streamlined permitting process is the right place to go. … I think we’re doing the right thing. I think we need the economy to help us now,” Bugbee said.

Roads Lehan said the town has about $400,000 in Chapter 90 funds from the state to spend on roads in the coming fiscal year (about $285,000 that is coming for next fiscal year and the rest from previous year funds that haven’t been spent yet). He said the money will be spent on road repairs, not engineering for road-related projects.

It’s not enough, Lehan said, but the voters in recent times rejected an override targeted at roads, and the town has to work with what it has. “Four hundred thousand isn’t going to fix our roads. That number is closer to four million,” Lehan said. “But the alternative is if you want to spend more money on roads you ought to go down to the police station and decide which police officersyou’re firing. Those are the choices.”

Flaherty noted that many roads in Norfolk are in rough shape, and he said he has trouble riding his mo­torcycle on some streets. He said more money should be spent on roads, and as for where to get it, he is skeptical that the town is spending its money wisely. “I think the town has plenty of money to do it. I just think the money is getting misused,” Flaherty said. Flaherty he doesn’t know of specific areas where the town is wasting money, but that he plans to pursue that topic if he is elected. “If I become selectman, I’m going to do everything I can to findthose and expose them,” Flaherty said. Bugbee said he’d like to see the town do more to fixroads but that he recognizes at the moment the mon­ey’s not there. What is available for roads, he said, isn’t enough to do much more than what the town is dong now.

“It’s a drop in the bucket. The roads are in such dis­repair that it would cost millions to fix them. … We can only work with the situation we’ve got. … It’s going to take a long time to fixthe roads,” Bugbee said.

Regionalizing Police Department

Town officials and police are in negotiations to re­gionalize the police function in Norfolk, sharing an ad­ministrative structure with Wrentham and Plainville. Lehan calls the talks with Wrentham and Plainville “surprisingly encouraging,” and that he hopes officials in the three towns will be able to bring a regionalization proposal to each community’s Town Meeting in the spring of 2011. Lehan said Norfolk residents would still see Norfolk police officers in Norfolk cruisers patrol­ling the town, but that the three towns would share a police chief and that police officers in Wrentham and Plainville would fill shifts in Norfolk when necessary. He sees a chance to decrease the size of a proposed public safety building — Wrentham already has a big public safety building of recent vintage, so perhaps Norfolk wouldn’t need cells in its new building.

“So it saves money. It provides us potentially greater backup coverage in extreme situations. And it potentially saves space in a new public safe­ty building,” Lehan said. Bugbee said he supports exploring the option of sharing police services with neighboring towns but would want to see the specifics before commit­ting himself to a plan. “At a high level, it’s not a bad idea. Again, the devil’s in the details,” Bugbee said. “… Fresh ideas, fresh approach, I’m open to exploring anything. I’d love to explore that.”

Flaherty said he likes the approach of regional­izing police, though he, too, wants to see the de­tails.

“I like the idea of saving money and strength­ening the police. The part I’m skeptical about is how it’s going to be run and who’s going to be in charge. … But I do like the idea that we share re­sources,

we strengthen everybody, and in the long run we save money.” Flaherty said. “As long as it doesn’t weaken Norfolk in the long run. But I don’t think it will.”

New Public Safety Building

Lehan has led the charge for a new public safety building, including a Proposition 2 ½ debt exclu­sion that narrowly failed late last year. Lehan has argued that the current police and fire station at 117 Main Street is woefully too small and is falling apart. All three candidates agree that the police and fire departments need a new building. “I’ve been told it’s beyond repair, in which case I’d say we need a new one,” Flaherty said. “These guys need a place that’s safe to work in.” It’s unclear when town officials might try again to ask voters to pay for a new public safety build­ing. “There’s no doubt there’s going to need to be a new one sooner rather than later,” Bugbee said. “… I think it’s a question of timing.”

New School In December voters approved a $36.9 million new elementary school to replace Freeman-Cen­tennial School on Boardman Street. The state is supposed to pick up a little less than half the cost. Lehan and Bugbee both support going forward with the project, but Flaherty is worried the state might renege on its portion. Town officials say it can’t happen — the state authority that funds school projects has a revenue stream independent of the state’s operating bud­get and is committed to the project in Norfolk. But Flaherty said he’d want to make sure that he is comfortable that town property owners won’t get stuck funding the whole project. “If I felt it was going to be a burden on the town and taxpayers, absolutely I would try to stop the project,” Flaherty said.

Veterans Agent Norfolk’s veterans agent doesn’t live in town and serves three other towns. That’s a sticking point for Flaherty, who as commander of the American Legion post in Nor­folk thinks the job should go to a Norfolk veteran. Lehan and Bugbee say that’s a good idea, but that it depends on cost.

Lehan said veterans agents make a set amount of money whether one town pays them or more than one town pays them. So by sharing a veteran agent with other towns, Norfolk saves money, he said.

Bugbee said he agrees with that approach. Flaherty disagrees, saying a Norfolk resident can do the job for the same amount of money the town is paying now and would be more accessi­ble.

Norfolk’s annual town election is Tuesday, May 11. Polls at H. Olive Day School at 232 Main Street are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day.