Braintree Candidate Profile: Shawn Cody For Town Council

BRAINTREE, MA — November's election will bring some new faces to the Town Council. There's 17 candidates running for nine seats, and five of those races are wide-open.

District 3 is among those open races and is where Shawn Cody will square off against Donna Connors and Joseph Lydon. The seat became open after Town Councilor Thomas Bowes decided to run for mayor.

Patch asked the candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near. Here's a little about Cody before the Braintree town election on Nov. 5.

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The single most pressing issue facing Braintree is ____, and this is what you intend to do about it?

The single most pressing issue in Braintree currently is the challenge to meet state required affordable housing numbers. We are faced with this challenge because currently in the eyes of the state we have not met the required number of affordable housing units in town.

Unfortunately, the Massachusetts General Law (MGL) has what is essentially a built-in legal loophole that allows the construction of 40B development projects even if local town governments like Braintree reject the initial proposal. Once it is approved by the state, developers no longer need to abide by Braintree’s zoning ordinances and have free reign to do what they want. We must be aware of what the law states and continue to fight to keep Braintree the way it has been for many years; a quiet town filled with residents devoted to its preservation. It is critical for the future of Braintree that we control the pace at which we grow and give our residents the facts they need to determine what is best for the town in terms of development.

We’re all residents of Braintree, so we are reminded of the growing issues around town every day. Some of the developers are fortunate enough to not have these daily reminders and only seem to care about the money that is generated from these housing developments. What is worse is that some developers are from Braintree and continue to ignore the detrimental effects housing developments can bring to town. Traffic is an issue that seems to grow by the week and adding more residents means more cars to add to the “Highway Cut-through Traffic,” that we currently face as a result of our geographical location around three major highways.

I intend to combat harmful development in our town without being 100 percent against every single proposal that comes before the town government that is revolved around affordable housing. Many people have great alternative ideas to try and reach the numbers required by the state and I believe that these proposals deserve to be heard for their merit and not rejected just because it means a development is going to be built. Large-scale 40B and 40R developments are certainly not what this town needs, but an alternative solution could be affordable housing development for our older residents, veterans and younger families just starting out in town so that they do not need to be uprooted. If we work with local developers and negotiate properly, we can find ways to control our growth while limiting poorly thought out housing developments that are forced upon us by the state.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

The critical difference between myself and the other candidates is that I’m a young, dedicated and efficient problem solver. I am a project manager for Fischbach and Moore Electric Group, LLC., a specialty electrical contractor in Boston. My responsibilities include budgeting for large scale construction projects, schedule management, risk management, project financial assessments, manpower coordination as well as many other duties.

I work on public projects for agencies like the MBTA, MassDOT and MWRA. Through my years of working with these agencies, we have had the pleasure of working with many of the local towns and municipalities around the Commonwealth to limit the uncomfortable effects that are natural to construction such as traffic mitigation, dust control, contamination and so on.

With a fairly new looking local government on the horizon, it is clear that there will be a focus to do some internal infrastructure upgrades throughout the entire town. I believe my experience could provide benefits to keep developers and contractors honest and transparent in their proposals. We can use any advantage possible to ensure that Braintree’s best interests are protected when projects are brought before the town.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

Development, Traffic and School Improvements are the hot topics in town, but they are not the only issues that we face as residents. We need to keep an eye on the smaller issues that get overlooked which are some of the reasons that Braintree is the way it is.

Issues that I have been focusing on are:

• Updating our outdated town offices, police station and fire stations.
• Combatting the gas compressor station, which is part of the Atlantic Bridge pipeline project, to protect our residents, environment and neighboring towns.
• Working to create alternate ways to generate income that can be used in the future for necessary infrastructure improvements without drastically increasing taxes for bothrResidents and businesses.
• Working with our parks department to find solutions to clean up some of the parks in town and create safe places for children to play.
• The prevention of substance abuse in town and educating future generations.
• Creating alternative career opportunities for high school students who do not have the option or desire to go to College.

We have a lot on our plate right now, and it is important that we have people in the Town Council looking at the bigger picture. We don’t just solve traffic and development issues, and everything just goes back to normal. We need to keep improving the areas and aspects that have made this town great for so many years. It is critical that we plan for the future and ensure that Braintree is suited and equipped for anything.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

While studying for my bachelor’s degree at Wentworth Institute of Technology, I served as the President for the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) student chapter, I served as a committee head for Phi Sigma Pi National Honors Fraternity, was a resident assistant and orientation leader. These roles gave me opportunities to meet people with different cultures and backgrounds similar to that of our residents. We must be mindful that we all can tend to have differences in opinions but at the end of the day we must work together for the benefit of Braintree.

In my professional career I have managed and delivered projects that have had costs which ranged from a few hundred thousand dollars to a few million dollars. As a project manager you are involved in every aspect of the project and must have excellent organizational and managerial skills. Its these skills that I have acquired throughout my life both personally and professionally that have allowed me to deliver multi-million dollars projects on schedule and under budget, which is always a benefit for taxpayers.

Above all else, I am a Braintree resident whose family was raised here and graduated from the Braintree School System.

What's your favorite thing about Braintree?

Growing up in Braintree, you learn that community is everything. For any student who has gone to Braintree High School, we all remember the acronym, PRIDE. PRIDE stands for partnership, respect, involvement, diversity and educational excellence. I remember when I attended Braintree High School, the headmaster at the time, Dave Swanton, would constantly remind students of PRIDE. Whether it was to get the varsity football team pumped up for a big rivalry game or because you were in his office for doing something you shouldn’t have been doing, we were always reminded of PRIDE. I credit most of my life’s successes to this town because of PRIDE. Today I continue to live by those very same values and believe that if we as residents continue to buy into PRIDE, we will solve any situation that we face as a town.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am looking for the support of my district to believe in me to ensure the prosperity of Braintree. I am a resident just like you and hope to help accomplish things for this town that we can be proud of for the rest of our history. My promise to you, the residents of Braintree, is this; I do not solely have the answers to all of the town’s issues, but together, we will find solutions to our development and traffic problems as well as finding sources to fund school improvement projects. We must continue to work together as a team to put our differences aside and put Braintree first.

Please make sure you get out to vote on Nov. 5!