Corona Hopes to Continue Work With Board of Selectmen

Colleen Corona is the longest tenured member on the Board of Selectmen - and she'd like to keep it that way.

A board member since 2003, she is vying to keep her position for three more years when Easton residents cast their votes for two open seats on April 24.

Four people are running for the two seats, including fellow incumbent , Finance Committee member Pat Goodman, and newcomer

In her nine years, she said there is a lot the board has accomplished, but there is still more work to do.

"I still want to complete a lot of things in the community," she said. "I think I’ve gotten a lot done: working on the school project, then I helped working on the override, which helped give us the fiscal stability to get through the recession years."

As the board's chair, Corona said she works hard to maintain a respectful culture.

"I would say that my biggest accomplishment is the culture that we’ve established on the Board of Selectmen and through the town: the culture of having discussions and not fighting; The culture of respecting people who come before the board even if we disagree with them; And, also a culture of being able to listen to creative ideas that come before the Board of Selectmen and acting on them – not shutting them down for political reasons," she said. "I really feel that’s been my biggest contribution to this board. We're unlike other communities that spend a lot of time fighting. We just don’t have that. We’re very professional and that allows ideas to come forward and be executed."

The culture on the board has helped in establishing a number of initiatives and projects, Corona said.

"I’m proud of the senior rec center," she said. "I’m happy that we worked cooperatively with the trustees. I’m really happy – thrilled – with the Beacon Project. I think we preserved those buildings. You have a lower density project that preserves that site and we were able to piggyback wastewater treatment and downtown upgrades into that project."

The Beacon Shovelworks Project, which is set to break ground in the next few weeks, was approved by town voters in 2010 and established a Public-Private partnership with Beacon Community Development LLC to restore the historic buildings and create 113 apartment units.

The Shovel Works, Corona said, has led to the initiation of a town-wide sewer system, including a 55,000 gallon wastewater treatment plant that will serve the apartments and approximately 70 parcels in North Easton Village. The town also received a $1 million state grant for downtown revitalization on Main Street.

The projects in Easton's downtown are all goals the current chair would like to see through.

"Downtown revitalization," she said." And, expanded wastewater treatment for the areas of downtown that really, truly need it. We also have to complete the master planning process. One of our goals is to make improvements to route 138 to make that more visually friendly and more attractive to business. Another important goal is that we continue to increase our stabilization fund so that we’re ready for the next recession."

Corona said the stabilization fund has allowed the town to get through difficult financial times.

Last year, the town eliminated two positions in the Fire Department, two positions in the Police Department, two positions in the Department of Public Works, two clerks in Town Hall and 18 positions in the School Department.

A preliminary FY 2013 budget, put forward by Town Administrator David Colton last month, would restore at least one position in the Police Department and two positions in the Fire Department.

"We’ve worked hard to maintain our fiscal stability," Corona said. "Yes, it’s been tough, but we had money put away. We maintained our bond rating. We’ve weathered the storm better than a lot of communities."

Corona said she has been able to make difficult decisions while she has been a member of the board. Voting for what is best for the town, she said, allows her to feel comfortable with her choices.

"The way I see it is, I really just have learned over the last nine years, that I have to absolutely vote for what is best for the community, overall," she said. "If I vote that way, I am able to deal with any adversity to that. I don’t have a problem with it because I feel like I’ve made the decision that I feel like is best for the whole community. You’re always going to face resistance to certain things. I vote so I can sleep at night and if I can sleep at night I can handle the adversity."

This past year, Selectmen unanimously approved a four-town veterans district that was met with resistance from many of Easton's veterans.

Easton's district with Norton merged with the towns of Foxborough and Mansfield, creating a four town, two agent, district.

Corona said she is comfortable with her vote.

"There was a comment made that we cut the veterans budget," she said. "In fact, over the last five years, the veterans budget has gone up every year. We need to serve that population and frankly I feel that having two people cover that position provides better service than having one person cover it. Now there’s an opportunity to have two people covering that. I am comfortable with that decision. We have to take opportunities to regionalize as they arrive.

"We’re going to see an increasing case load and I think this district is going to provide coverage to those veterans and the good thing is it’s a year by year thing and if it doesn’t work we can change it."

Corona has also helped lead the board as chair when dealing with the state and the South Coast Rail. She said that while neither she, nor the board as a whole, want the train to come through Easton, it is important to mitigate the process and alleviate negative affects should the train come through town.

"We should make sure we are constantly aware of what we need to ask for to make sure the impacts are mitigated as much as possible," she said. "But, that doesn’t mean that we’re not voicing our opposition and making them aware of the issues we have with the project."

Corona said her leadership abilities and ability to work with others to provide what is best for the town are all reasons she is the right person to lead the town in the next three years.

"I’m really proud of everything we’ve accomplished in the last nine years and I’m proud of the type of government we have in Easton in these really turbulent political times," she said. "I’d like to continue to work for the town."