Recalled Selectmen, Challengers Face Off In Debate

STOUGHTON, MA — Depending on who you talk to, either everything in Stoughton is fine or the board of selectmen have abused their power and lacks transparency.

Stoughton Media Access Corporation and Mark Snyder of the Stoughton News Facebook page held the Definitive Debates this week for the Dec. 5 selectmen recall election. The three incumbent selectmen faced off with their challengers in a 30-minute one-on-one format.

At the start of the debate between selectmen Chairman David Sousa and Christine Howe, Sousa was asked about a controversial flyer he brought to a recent selectmen meeting. The flyer included a post from Howe’s 17-year-old sister’s private Instagram account and includes a photo of Howe being interviewed with a caption that in part read, “Yes honey you take down that boys club no more bully white old men who’ve done illegal stuff.”

Sousa claimed the flyers were left in his mailbox by a recall supporter or the Howe Campaign. Howe denied that her campaign had anything to do with the flyer.

The chairman continued to attack Howe, accusing her of running for political gain. Howe responded that her reasons for running include the lack of action on the town manager search committee and constant delays and stalling by the board.

“I’m not doing this to better my career to be a politician. I’m doing this because I care about the town and restore trust to the board,” Howe said.

Much of the debate focused on former Town Manager Michael Hartman and the process to hire an interim town manager, with Sousa adamant that Hartman was not fired, rather his contract was allowed to expired.

Sousa, like fellow board members Peter Brown and Robert Cohn defended the process, noting that a Norfolk Superior Court judge ruled that a discharge hearing was not necessary and the state Attorney General's ruled that the only open meeting law violations that the board was guilty of was not placing the name of the person being considered for the position and not announcing prior to a meeting that it was being recorded.

Howe said the complaints were filed because there was no transparency in the process.

The debate between Cohn and Stephen Cavey had an emphasis on public safety, with Cohn touting the addition of a second Stoughton ambulance and an increase in public safety staffing.

Currently, the salaries of the new firefighters are being paid for by a grant from FEMA. When challenged by Cavey about how the town could afford the staffing increase once the grant expired, Cohn said the Campanelli Building would bring in $18 million in taxes once is filled up.

The two also disagreed on who should get credit for the town’s recent Aa2 rating from Moody’s. Cohn said the rating has allowed the town to borrow money at a lower rate, crediting Interim Town Manager Steve Anastos with putting the work together. Cavey responded that the rating is the result of work dating back to 2009.

The final debate saw Rick Hill challenge Brown. Like Cohn, Brown attributed the recent financial news to Anastos, claiming that there was no pursuit of financing by Hartman.

The recalled selectmen claimed the town would have to pay a 3.5 percent rate on the 20-year bond for the new Stoughton High School, but Hill said that figure was a worse case scenario with the understanding they would pay a lower rate.

The Dec. 5 election will be a two-step process. First, residents will be asked to vote for or against the individual recall of each selectman. Then, they will choose between incumbent and the challenger.

Below are the full debates.

Image: File Photo