Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of March 12, 2006

Held at Framingham Green from 7pm to 9pm.

 

Attendance

Members: Rep. Debby Blumer, Jerry Desilets, Esther Hopkins, Donna Howland, Chris Lorant, Waldo Lyon, Tom Mahoney, Stephanie Mercandetti, Valerie Mulvey, Joan Rastani, Chris Ross, Norma Shulman, Rochelle Sivan, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid

 

            Associate Members: Steve Robinson, Pam Roberts

 

Elected Officials: Rep. Tom Sannicandro, Senator Karen Spilka,

 

Guests: Elsa Aviza, Herb Chasan, Phil Dinsky, Tom Liddy, Andy Limeri, Stephen Meltzer, Katie Murphy, Carl Offner, Pam Richardson, Wes Ritchie, Joel Winett

 

 

1.                   Treasuer’s Report

 

Cash on Hand as of 01/22/06	1847.88
Dues Received	95.00
Dividends	0
Other Income	0
Net Income	95.00
Itemized Expenses, Norma Shulman	105.41	not cleared by 2/28/06
Web site charges, Norma Shulman	89.50	not cleared by 2/28/06
Net Expenses	194.91
Balance as of 03/12/06	1747.97

 

 

            Treasurer’s report was accepted.

 

2.                   Minutes and Attendance

 

The Minutes of the January meeting were accepted with no corrections.

The notes from the February caucus were accepted with one correction to list the name of a candidate among the guests who appeared at the caucus.

 

 

3.                   Program, Democrat candidates for Town Elections

 

MODERATOR

Joel Winett: A 35 year Framingham resident who has a long commitment to Town Meeting.  He knows how Town Meeting runs, is familiar with all its rules and procedures.  He will apply his experience in enforcing rules and will make a point to recognize more people.  He wants to get new Town Meeting members more involved in the process by encouraging them to add their voice to discussions.  He will reach out to schools and get more students interested in municipal government.  Joel is retired from professional life.

 

 

SELECTMEN

Katie Murphy:  Has volunteered in Framingham for 18 years starting with the PTO.  Has been a Town Meeting member.  She brings a great deal of experience from having participated in many meetings and listening to the concerns of residents.  She stands for what she believes and took action against hate speech when this became an issue.  She has served as Housing Liaison to work on housing policies.

 

 

SCHOOL COMMITTEE

Pam Richardson (incumbent):  She is a parent of 2 and become involved in Town Meeting when her children were in preschool  She has chaired the Education Committee and has now been on the School Committee for 3 years.  She sees issues at the state and federal level that are affecting what can be done at the local level.  She was worked with Representative Blumer to track key legislation that would affect schools  She was nominated by to the Mass PTA but not appointed by the Republican Governor.

 

Wes Ritchie: Currently a legislative aide to Rep. Sannicandro and serves on the Standing Committee on Education.  He is a lifelong Framingham resident and a student at Framingham State College.  From his experience at the State House, he has understanding of budgeting.  He currently has siblings in the Framingham schools; this gives him an understanding of the current school system.

 

PLANNING BOARD

Tom Mahoney (incumbent):  Tom has been a seven year member of the Planning Board and is its current Chair for 2 years.  He is a former Town Meeting member and was later selected to the Planning Board.  He sees the Board as having two major functions: (1) Review new projects, (2) Create Zoning.  Under his stewardship the Planning Board has made Framingham the “Center of Metrowest”.  Downtown Framingham has been revitalized with the Arcade, Kendall and Dennison projects and with mixed zoning.

 

Carol Spack (incumbent): As a lawyer she helped start non-profits, helped artists and small businesses.  She has stopped her practice and now pursues bronze sculpting and remaining active with the Planning Board.  She sees the Planning Board functioning as a review board.  During the past year the Board has heard special permit requests.  Moving forward she believes the Board will face challenges that require discretion and states that she has the experience for this.  Carol added that she would like to see the community gain a greater sense of cohesion.

 

Stephen Meltzr: This is Steve’s first bid to run for a Town Government position and he quipped that he has tried to understand state budgets and still does not!  He is a lawyer by profession mostly in land use and development.  He represents developers, abutters and also planning and zoning boards.  His practice has given him a unique perspective of how planning boards function and also of the review process.  He believes he can bring a different perspective to the Planning Board.  He graduated from law school in 1993 and is a member of the faculty at New England School of Law.

 

LIBRARY TRUSTEE

There were no candidates present for this office at the meeting.

Norma Shulman read a statement from Nancy Coville Wallace who is a candidate for Library Trustee; she won the Preliminary as a write-in candidate.  (Nancy was out-of-state at the time of the meeting to help a project building homes for the Katrina Hurricane survivors in Mobile, Alabama.)

 

 

KEEFE TECHE SCHOOL COMMITTEE

Esther Hopkins: She has been a member of the Finance Committee of Town Meeting, Chair of Board of Selectmen, and is currently on the search committee for a new Town Manager.  She noted how Framingham is losing people with technical skills and she wants to work to improve this situation.  She hopes to strengthen the quality of Keefe Tech’s education so students can give back to their community with strong working skills rather than bagging groceries.

 

Tom Liddy:  He is a 35 year resident of Framingham, originally from Brooklyn, New York.  He attended St. John’s then served as a New York State Trooper.  He also worked as a longshoreman and late in sales with Bell & Howell and Gillette.  He was on the Board of Supervisors at Framingham Credit Union.  He became committed to Keefe Tech when his late wife encouraged him to get involved.  He takes great pride in what Keefe Tech as achieved during his involvement in the School Board.  He sees Keefe Tech as very important as it serves 5 communities.

 

 

4.                   Report from Nominating Committee

 

The Nominating Committee comprised of Norma Shulman, Bill Haberman, Archie Lyon and Donna Howland offered a slate of candidates to serve as officers for the term beginning in 2006 and ending in 2008.  The candidates nominated on this slate are:

 

            Chair – Parwez Wahid

            Vice Chair – Debby Blumer

            Treasurer – Nancy Coville Wallace

            Secretary – Rochelle Sivan

            Outreach Officer – Chris Ross

 

Nominations remain open and also will be accepted from the floor during the April DTC meeting.

 

Further the Nominating Committee recommended that the officers elected at the April DTC meeting take office on July 1, 2006 so as to insure continuity of leadership through the State Convention in June.

 

 

5.                   Announcements

 

Senator Spilka: There will be a Senate District breakfast event on April 29^th from 10am to 12:30pm in Holliston.  Cost is $5.00, state-wide candidates are expected.

 

Chris Lorant: Had nomination papers for several candidates for voters to sign.  Mentioned the Salute to Framingham Dinner on Wednesday March 15^th.  Announced his run for Town Meeting from Precinct 1.

 

Carl Offner of the Sudbury DTC: Described an on-going peace vigil in Sudbury to oppose the war.  This takes place every Saturday from 12noon to 12:30pm at Sudbury Center (the intersection of Rt. 27 and Concord Ave).  All are welcome to join the vigil; it is gaining more and more support.  Contact: offner@cs.umb.edu.

 

Deb Blumer: Had papers for Senator Ted Kennedy’s nomination.

 

Herb Chasan: Has been pursuing efforts to help out-of-state Congressional races through a local chapter of Democracy For America.  (This group holds regular meetings, usually at the Framingham Library.)  There is concern on how the Federal Government in Washington is moving to the right and this is creating the urgency for more Democrats in the House and Senate.  His group has been contacting the campaign managers of Democrat challengers in out-of-state Republican districts such as Pennsylvania, Colorado and Minnesota.  He has obtained voter lists from these districts and is now seeking volunteers to help make phone calls to help the Democrats win in these districts.

 

Norma Shulman: The DTC received a letter of thanks from the Cameron PTO for allowing the PTO to operate a snack table during the caucus; the sales from the snack table will be of great help to the PTO.