Braintree Election 2021: Joe Reynolds For Town Council

BRAINTREE, MA — The Braintree town election is less than two weeks away, and soon voters will hit the polls and elect new members to the Town Council and school committee.

Town Council contested races are in districts 1, 2 and 3., while the school committee will see seven candidates compete for three open seats.

Prior to the election, Patch is running candidate profiles to help inform residents on where candidates stand on the issues. Here's a bit more about Joe Reynolds, who is running for a seat in District 1, in the Nov. 2 town election.

Joe Reynolds

Age (as of Election Day)

59

Position Sought

District 2 Councilor

Family

Wife, Dawn

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

Eastern Nazaren College, BSBA

Occupation

Operational Risk Consultant

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Braintree Planning Board

Campaign website

ElectJoeReynolds.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

I'm seeking the District Two Council seat because I'm very concerned about the state of our town's financial situation, presently and into the future. Our current elected leaders have not demonstrated an ability to proactively manage the impacts of the COVID pandemic, while at the same time demonstrating an ability to meet the numerous challenges associated with managing our town's most important priorities. I'm concerned about the short-sightedness of some officials and residents who want to turn their backs on efforts to maintain a balance of tax revenues our municipal government depends on from our business and commercial base, and that plays a major role in keeping our residential tax rates reasonably low. I'm running because I believe I can give a voice to the opinions of residents who do not want to see their own property taxes double or triple if our commercial tax base dwindles to a point where the town is unable to pay for our basic services, debt obligations and addressing the remaining public infrastructure challenges we're facing today. I'm also concerned about how the town will apply the available American Rescue Act money we are eligible for from the County government and any remaining Federal / State block grant payments. The post-COVID recovery needs to be addressed with immediacy and with a deliberatedness that will keep Braintree in the black and not in the red.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The most immediate need for District Two is curb the volume of traffic that clogs the streets of Central and North Braintree neighborhoods, and the pedestrian safety concerns that go along with traffic using our side streets and residential neighborhoods as cut-throughs to reach points South and North of Braintree. While working as Chief of Staff and Director of Operations for the previous Mayor, we implemented traffic calming programs and traffic restriction programs in numerous neighborhoods across town. The Mayor's staff and engineering department worked with several neighborhood groups like the Brookside Rd, Fairfield, and Holmes Streets to implement street and parking configurations as well as restricting one-way traffic during peak morning and evening commutes. A similar approach can be applied in other areas of the district that will send a clear message to cut-through vehicles that are residential neighborhoods are off-limits to commuter traffic. I'm disappointed that this program was discontinued by the current Mayoral Administration.

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

The critical differences between my candidacy and the other candidates in this race is that I possess the deepest cross-section of applicable experiences and perspectives to bring to the job as District Councilor. Having the experience of not only reviewing budgets, but of actually developing budgets, balancing the priorities of paying down our debt obligations, applying the limited funds we take in annually toward critical capital needs, ensuring our school programs and public safety needs are funded, as well as essential municipal services are funded enough to keep our streets and public areas clean and in good repair is a significant skill set that will help ensure that the full Council is contributing it's part to the best fiscal management we can accomplish for our town. My experiences in managing the day-to-day operations of the municipality affords me the unique experience amongst the three candidates for District Two Councilor of performing the business of cost containment, leveraging separate initiatives to create greater value of how we spend tax dollars and how to multiply the return on our spend by partnering with local businesses and neighboring municipalities on key issues.
My 13 years as a planning board member has also allowed me to have a deep understanding of zoning, municipal planning and their critical impact on the health of our local economy on how to balance the economic priorities with our quality of life priorities of our residents.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

Running for an open seat

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

I think that the local officials did do some things well to assist the more vulnerable residents of our community, such as helping the seniors and school children. However, I was disappointed in the town's ability to handle multiple priorities at the same time. Poor management of the available assets (human or physical) that the town had that were not
COVID related or impacted by COVID, such as the consistent delivery of essential municipal services, advancing the updated Master Plan initiative, and advancing the Regional Water Treatment Plant partnership.

If I was on the Council during COVID I would have offered my experience in Disaster Recovery and Contingency Operations and Planning to partner with the town in ensuring we could still deliver on basic services, re-deploy the town employees from the sidelined operations impacted by COVID restrictions, emphasized the efficient use of the alternative communications and remote working tools to pro-actively anticipate problems and work together to find a way to head off looming issues and to get the business of governing done. We saw this type of action being successfully deployed with our neighboring communities, at the State level and at the Federal level.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Shrinking revenues are a big issue at a time where Braintree needs a steady stream of adequate annual revenues to address not only the basics of municipal service delivery, but also in our school funding needs for programs, staff along with funding the ongoing need of repair and replacement of our physical assets. We have debt obligations that are not being paid, such as the town not paying anything into our under funded employee retirement plan and health benefits. The town was on track to pay down our debt to zero by 2031, which was five years ahead of the State mandated zero debt by 2036. The last two operating budgets have paid zero into those debt accounts.

Our town also needs to get moving on strengthening our local economy, and we can not do it on the back of the residential taxpayers. We need the Mayor and the Council working together to promote the type of businesses in our community that will return more valuable tax revenues, but that do not come along with negative impacts on our community's quality of life.

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

My experience of excelling in stressful situations and being prepared for what may be coming over the horizon at us. My 15 years of operating and advancing in a military environment where my leadership and personnel skills were continuously tested taught me the importance of planning for the unexpected, while simultaneously ensuring you are taking care of the important day to day tasks. My success in managing operating budgets, project budgets and investing in the future of the organizations that I worked in were important contributions to the successful delivery of both private and public services in a cost-efficient manner.

My understanding of organizational structures built on lean and efficient models contributed to my ability to stand up a formal storm water management program for the town without any add to the existing operating budget of the DPW. Braintree became one of only a handful of Massachusetts communities to meet this EPA and DEP mandate, while ensuring we are ready for the effects of a changing climate.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Never compromise your integrity ... always do the right thing even when no one is looking.

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

I believe we are only as good (a person, a team or a community) as what we are willing to do for our family, neighbors, community or country, selflessly