Gozdeck Announces Candidacy for Selectman

My name is Todj Gozdeck and I’m running for the Sudbury Board of Selectmen.  I’d like to introduce myself, and over the next few weeks share my thoughts, ideas, and qualifications in hopes of getting your vote.

My wife Karen and I have lived in Sudbury for 10 years, after a lengthy search for the perfect town to raise a family.  We moved here, like so many of us in large part because of the great schools, and have a long-term vested interest in Sudbury with 2nd and 4th grade boys at Noyes.  I’m a CPA in excellent standing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, specializing in Mergers and Acquisition Services for Deloitte.  I have over 20 years of financial and accounting experience, and I am a UCONN alumnus with a magna cum laude degree from the School of Business.

I served on the Sudbury Finance Committee and I am currently Chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission.  I also serve on the Stewardship and Finance Commission for the Sudbury United Methodist Church and I coach youth Soccer, Baseball and Basketball.

As a member of the Finance Committee and Chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission I have worked hard to preserve and enhance the great fields, parks, schools and financial assets which help make Sudbury such a great town.  I will take action to promote more diverse leadership, community participation, and financial transparency to preserve all that’s so special about Sudbury, and these actions will restore a constructive dialog to bring our community together.

I’ll be running on 4 ideas to win your vote for the 2-year term on June 25th:  Experience, Community Participation, Transparency, and Fiscal Sustainability.

Experience:   We all have it, but what kind does Sudbury need right now?

It used to be that a Selectman needed to serve a long apprenticeship on the Planning Board before being anointed as the "insiders' choice" for the BOS.  This apprenticeship led to a group-think culture hallmarked by a dominating town staff, limited public input, and policy outcomes like an abundance of housing developments and crowded schools but an absence of 40B progress or long-term planning.  Too many people from the same background leads to a good-old-boy network - an inside group indifferent to outside opinions.

In my line of business, my antenna goes up when I study the members of a Board of Overseers and see similar backgrounds.  Diversity of membership promotes discussion, debate and the development of new ideas to challenge the status quo.  I’ve seen the value of that leadership diversity many times to restore transparency, trust and civility within organizations, and Sudbury needs more of it now.

When was the last time we had a Selectman who served on the Parks and Recreation Commission or the Finance Committee?  I have experience on both.  I don't know if Sudbury has ever had a Selectman who has my financial and accounting background, but it’s time we did.  As your Selectman, I will use my experience to ask tough questions, uncover details that matter, and speak truth to power.

Community Participation:   More is better.  

For too long we’ve turned away good people who’ve tried to volunteer for town committees.  They’re passed over for others who already serve on multiple committees. Chairmanships seem frozen over time, and Town Staff more focused on how it has worked than how it should.  All that needs to change.

Does it make sense that Sudbury residents are not allowed to come to Selectmen meetings and ask questions or provide feedback?  Does it make sense that the Chairman of Planning Board and the Chairman of the Community Preservation Committee has been the same person for the last 12 years? Sudbury is run by a very small group of people who dominate the major town committees. That’s bad for Sudbury, and it’s bad for you.

The first thing I did when elected to the Parks and Recreation Commission was to push for rotation of the Chairmanship and advocate for a new CPC representative.  Parks and Recreation had not rotated the Chairmanship in 8 years.  I made it happen.

I think more people would participate if we just made it clearer how they could. We need to advertise all committee vacancies, share them more broadly in print and embrace digital media, and actively welcome new people to serve Sudbury and empower them with leadership.  I will make that happen too.

Transparency:  It's the only way to build public trust. 

In some ways this seems the hardest lesson for those who control Sudbury to learn.

In 2009, when I served on the Finance Committee I was asked to participate on the "Budget Working Group."  At one of my first meetings, I noticed all three Selectmen and many town and school officials were privately discussing the most important decision of the year:  How much would the override be and when would it be on the ballot? 

I objected to these private meetings.  The public should have a seat at the table when discussing the most important and divisive issue of the year.

Instead of making the meetings open, I was removed from the Budget Working Group and asked to resign from FinCom.  I was told "the public doesn't want to see us make the sausage..."  As a trained accountant, comptroller and auditor, when someone makes references to "making sausage" as an excuse for keeping something from the public – again – my antenna goes up. 

I refused to resign and stood my ground by advocating for public disclosure of annual budget discussions, which is now (fortunately) the policy the FinCom has adopted.  As a member of the Board of Selectman, I will continue to be an advocate for transparency and identify areas where the public needs to be at the table observing town government.

Fiscal Sustainability: It’s time to solve the Structural Deficit.

Sustainability is more than a buzz word to me.  To me, it means making long term decisions to enhance our tax base, control costs, and preserve our town and schools.  As a citizen of this town I’m concerned about the Route 20 sewer project being used to build more family housing and further overburden our schools.  The purpose of that sewer is to enhance our commercial sector and generate more tax revenue to invest in our schools and town services.  Building more family housing defeats that purpose.  I will stand firm to ensure we make the right long-term decision for Sudbury.

We need to solve our 40B problem.  Our current plan to build more family housing with few units even counting toward our 40B quota only makes our problem worse.  We need to focus exclusively on age-restricted rentals and solve our 40B problem as so many of our surrounding communities have done.  We need to take back control of where-and-how housing is built in Sudbury. 

As your Selectman, I promise to continue to lead by example.  I will stand strong for financial sustainability by making good long term decisions through proactive strategic planning.  I will gain trust in our community by welcoming new committee members and empowering them to think for themselves.  I will strongly encourage and advocate for committee diversity, chairman rotation and absolute transparency in all of our town matters.

Actions will bring our town together.  Not words.

Let's preserve Sudbury together.  I ask for your vote for the 2-year Selectmen’s
term.