Emery Wants to Improve Residents' Understanding of Services

Incumbent Selectman Leigh Emery says improving residents' understanding of the services Westborough provides would be among her goals if voters re-elect her next week.

Two three-year seats on the board of selectmen are on the March 5 annual town ballot. Emery, fellow incumbent Timothy Dodd and Ruggles Street resident Stephen Faris are the candidates.

“I think there still are a lot of people that are critical of our tax bill. Part of the criticism is they don’t really understand what they’re getting,” says Emery, who seeks her fourth term.

Emery also wants to “look at our departments very critically.”

“Are we providing any things that really are so optional or truly unessential that we can say to the townspeople, ‘Would you mind doing without this service? Because if you can do without this service, we can cut our budget by (X),’” she says.

Offering Town Finance 101 live forums, “the same information available on the web,” is among the current board’s goals, and one that Emery supports.

Emery also supports bringing to Westborough an idea that Town Manager Jim Malloy used in Sturbridge: a Citizen Leadership Academy, where people interested in serving in town government “can go through a series of sessions with Jim about what it really takes to run our town,” she says.

Those two concepts together would generate for Westborough “more, well-qualified volunteers on committees,” says Emery, a school nurse.

Emery says that the EDSAT report from Northeastern can help guide Westborough toward attracting business.

The report looks at how contractors, builders, businesses moving to town “perceive the ease of getting started in Westborough,” she says.

“There are places for improvement. I think we need to do as much as we can to either help the departments or work with the departments make our permitting process as streamlined as it can be without jeopardizing any of the safety mechanisms, codes, that we have to follow,” Emery says.