Moe made the following statements to the community as a participant at the League of Women Voters' Candidates Night.
Opening Statement
I would like to thank the League of Women Voters for sponsoring this event and providing an opportunity to communicate on some of the very important issues facing our community.
My wife Elizabeth and I have lived in Needham since 1987 and our 3 children are all graduates of the Needham Public Schools including my daughter who graduated just a year ago. I have been active in the civic life of our Town as an elected member of Town Meeting and the Planning Board and have concentrated on bringing new tax revenue into Needham by enhancing of our commercial tax base. As a private citizen I have been active in bringing value to the Town and its schools through efforts with the Historical Society and in the community activities of the Exchange Club, the Heights Association.
I bring professional planning skills and a long-range perspective and vision to the Board of Selectmen. I also bring 15 years senior management experience in large hospitals. I have managed and understand complex budgets.
I believe that transparency is important but that is not enough; we also need more active participation in decision-making. We have to bring stakeholders together before the key decisions are made and it's too late to change course. That's especially true in the efforts we are making now on issues ranging from solving the HVAC problem at the Newman School and in meeting the promise to establish a new Senior Center. We seem be moving in the right direction on those and I can help make that a hallmark of how we govern ourselves in the future. I know that through my own training and professional experience.
As a member of the planning board I had active role in redefining how that board relates to the public and have led in planning exercises that included meaningful public participation before the key decisions were reached.
Most recently, I played a leading role as a member of a broad alliance of interest in working to develop a way to save Needham's Great Hall. I credit the Board of Selectmen and the Town Manager with the wisdom and courage to revise course. But I do think that there would have been better process if only the consensus building had taken place earlier and in a more meaningful way.
I respectfully ask for your vote.
Closing Statement
Thank you.
Let me close by saying that this is a very important race for a number of reasons, not the least of which it is a referendum on the way we think of our Town government.
I stand for transparency and meaningful public participation.
I am not running to be the Town Manager and I am not running to be the Town's Finance Director. I have complete confidence in the ability of our top management team to manage effectively within the priorities that the members of the Board of Selectmen should be setting.
I am running for a seat on the board to actively build the necessary alliances between the various constituencies and interests so that we can work as a community to get through the next several years.
All of us in town government support the town's very Conservative fiscal planning and self imposed restraints. We all agree the Triple A rating is essential.
Some may think it trumps the town's mission, I hope you believe, as I do that it is there to support that mission. We are first and foremost a community that takes care of its own.
If you elect me, I will bring my proven passion, commitment and determination to the immediate issues of the Newman School HVAC and the creation of the best possible Senior Center and I will help build the coalition of support we all need to accomplish those tasks along with supporting both our schools and the very real needs of our senior citizens.
I respectfully request your vote and support.