The two candidates for Select Board, incumbent Heidi Frail and newcomer Vikram Kaul, seem to have some positions in common. Interviewed on issues, they each said diversity and climate change should continue to be town priorities despite the current federal reversals. Both spoke to the need to listen to Needham residents and understand the full range of hopes and concerns as the Select Board makes its decisions. They each said it will take responsible governance and careful financial management to balance the range of infrastructure needs — from rebuilding Pollard Middle School to improving stormwater management — to keep Needham’s financial position strong.
Yet, for politicians, there are positions and there are actions. Frail brings the record of an incumbent who has been engaged in town politics for nearly a decade: a long trail of dedicated committee work and public leadership on housing, environmental, and financial issues and three years of votes and positions on the Select Board. Kaul has the first-time candidate’s challenge (and luxury) of trying to define himself, partly by referring to the discontent among some voters that surfaced in the recent special town election.
The questions for the candidates were deliberately general to elicit their thinking and approach to issues rather than deep dives. The answers have been edited for clarity and length.
What are the core responsibilities of the Select Board?
Heidi Frail
The Select Board functions as sort of a board of directors for the town. The town manager is the CEO. We set policy for the town. The major town departments report up through the town manager and ultimately to the Select Board — for example, police, fire. So we have oversight responsibility for many, many things. Directly, though, we’re responsible for policies, for setting the tax rate, for bringing the warrant to Town Meeting, alcohol licensing, things like that. Needham has a very decentralized government. So the School Committee handles essentially all things school. They come to the Select Board as a magisterial event to bring the school budget to Town Meeting.
The Select Board is expected, and rightly so, to provide thoughtful direction on many things that are not under our direct control. To provide some vision and leadership for the town, which of course we do through our Select Board goals. We determine the policy-setting direction for the town but often are asked to weigh in on things that are not under our direct purview.
Then of course there’s this whole ceremonial aspect to the Select Board. Appearing at parades or speaking at Memorial Day or whatever. I have come to recognize that being there as a Select Board member really confers town support on the activity. And I think that’s really meaningful.
Vikram Kaul
They’re a five-member board which is looking to solve whatever the residents of Needham are looking to get answers and solutions for, period. The buck stops there. Yes, there are, of course, multiple agencies and multiple committees, which is wonderful. And they have their own roles defined very well in our town bylaws. And so that’s a great set, right? We listen, we understand. How I think about the Select Board role is [knowing] what everybody in the other committees and the others are looking to get done. The Select Board tends to be a guidance board about where our priorities are. It sets clear priorities on what the — listening to the residents first, and then setting priorities accordingly.
Single-family house size regulations are under review. What’s your stance on teardowns and replacements?
Vikram Kaul
We have to work with [developers] to make them understand that we are looking for a particular combination of choices of housing. And how do we make sure we incentivize them from a policy perspective to continue building some of those homes, from a senior perspective, from a starter home perspective? Some of those things along with our nature issues. In terms of green, are tree covers getting lost, right? Groundwater, storm water is becoming an issue. So all those things combined together — how do we incentivize the builders so they have those things in mind and they can accordingly build those houses?
Heidi Frail
As a broad subject, I think people get to do what they want with their living spaces. But if we have lots and lots of teardowns and replacements, it does have a big impact on the town. I think we need to make sure that we are setting correct policy. We don’t want to hurt anyone by overly constraining what they can do with their private property. I totally recognize that. But I think, you know, what we are hearing from the community and what we heard with the citizens petition that was brought before Town Meeting last year, is that we have reached a point where people are concerned about it and they want some action taken. So that’s what the large House Review Committee is for, to take a look and see what can reasonably be done and where that fair balance point is for our community.
How will the investment in school buildings affect other capital projects?
Heidi Frail
The town undertakes a meticulous budgeting process every year and extends that budgeting process out through our capital plan five years and more with the schools in particular. We have guidelines, the 3% and the 10% guidelines that tell us where we ought to remain in terms of debt and debt service to make sure that our budget stays healthy. Everyone is very much aware of these guidelines. It is likely that the schools will require an override, and that will briefly affect the adherence to those guidelines. But that is absolutely something that the town is planning for. And we have mitigations planned to deal with that situation when it comes up.
We have a debt stabilization fund. And the timing of the school projects has been such that other debt will be coming off of our books. So it’s not like we’re just piling stuff on. We’re working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which will vastly reduce the amount of money coming from Needham taxpayers to fund this project. So I don’t think that this is going to be a big hurdle for the town. I don’t think that it will affect our credit rating. I think that the town has put in place enough boundaries so that we can maintain that and spend responsibly.
Vikram Kaul
We are for strong schools, period. And we will continue to maintain the infrastructure that is available to us today. And going forward, we have big projects in terms of the Pollard rebuild. And coming forward after that is Mitchell. And so they have their expense line in terms of their capital expenditure. It’s projected to be somewhere between a range of $350 million to about $450 million. We have to go back and understand how do we fund them? Because if we take out a particular debt claim at this point, based on the town’s own projections, we would exceed the 3% capital policy we have in place, and the 10% policy we have in place. And so we’ll be exceeding those. So we have to balance the existing infrastructure and have the right infrastructure for our youngsters. So we’ll continue to focus on making the funds available for the education part of it and we’ll continue to maintain the existing infrastructure together.
What’s your stance on revitalizing Needham’s downtown area, and what is the role of the Select Board in making investments or changes?
Heidi Frail
I think that’s a really important and often overlooked item on our agenda. There’s such interdependence between residents and businesses that we often take for granted. Having a good place to go and having places locally where you can get your errands done and live your life is really important. Similarly, it’s really important for those businesses that they have enough people doing that, that they can survive. In recent years, it’s been very, very difficult. One thing I think Needham really benefits from: a momentum of restaurants. It’s known as a place to come and eat, which is great, but we need to work on providing a little bit more than that.
We want it to be a destination where people choose to go, not only to hang out, but to shop, to eat, to meet friends, a place that people want to be. I would like to see that happen in our town centers.
Should the Avery building be reconstituted, that’ll be a really big deal for Avery Square. Having more people patronizing those businesses, going about their business, really provides a sense of liveliness for that area.
I wish we had more engagement and participation from our landlords. As part of my work on the Council of Economic Advisors, this is the sort of subject that we’re getting into. What do these parcel holders want to do? What are their objectives? I don’t know how this compares with other towns, but I would say there are a lot of landlords in Needham who are interested in, you know, passing this property on. The property is leased. So it’s all income-bearing. It’s not something we have a whole ton of control over.
Vikram Kaul
We’ve got to have Needham be a destination location. Today, people come through Needham, they drive through. Or we as residents go out to other towns. And so my focus is providing a uniform plan for downtown Needham that can work with the different constituents. And that’s where the Select Board policies and viewpoints will come into play. We work with the administration to get the right incentives in place, which will then allow for that so that our youngsters can spend time safely. Our families can have time together in Needham. And so that’s where I want to be focusing on.
One example is to have retailers come in and do pop-up stores. So the cost of entry for them becomes much lower. They can come in and experiment. The Needham residents can give feedback real time in terms of buying or not buying, and they will understand that this is something that works for the residents of Needham, or they have to go back and experiment differently. That allows for a lower barrier of entry to come in and establish something in Needham.
The federal commitment to addressing climate change is being rolled back. What should our town’s commitment be and why? Is the Select Board’s Climate Action plan still relevant?
Vikram Kaul
Our role both as a town and as private individuals, is to have a safer and a better planet for our youngsters. That’s my aspiration. I’m sure it’s everybody’s aspiration. As we march towards it, we keep an eye on common sense solutions for some of these issues. Of course, we will look to make sure that the select board and the town does its part. At the same time, we have to balance the cost of doing that. When we look at solutions, we balance the affordability element of the Needham’s residents combined with common sense solutions for some of those. And so that’s what’s gonna be my pillar to look at some of these elements. I’m absolutely driven by having a greener planet. I think that’s key for us.
I think our emphasis should also be as private residents, as private citizens. How can we have more nonprofit engagement, both at the funding level as well as an action level, right? We can fund science from our perspective, so it gets us better common sense solutions.
Heidi Frail
Oh, it’s definitely still relevant. I don’t think that Needham’s commitment to any of its priorities needs to change based on changing federal policy. That is true of climate as well. The gains that we have made in climate mitigation improve the health of Needham residents. They improve the economics of the town and Needham residents and ultimately make the town sort of future proof. That’s an expression: It’s not actually future-proofing but protecting our infrastructure; making it less prone to flooding, et cetera. While not all of the technology is entirely ready, yet what is ready and what we have taken advantage of has been a benefit to the town and its residents and will continue to be.
There are many infrastructure needs here. What do you see as the highest priority?
Heidi Frail
Fortunately, the town is able to have more than one high priority. There’s a ton of work being done on drainage, which given the trends in weather that we’ve seen is very important. It’s really difficult for residents to recoup losses that are sustained because of flooding. The work that the Tree Committee will do on tree preservation is another infrastructure issue. Maintaining our tree canopy will be increasingly important. Making sure that the school facilities are modern and accessible to all is very important. Needham’s schools are a major draw for our residents.
But we also have to take a look at the facilities that we’re using for our staff. So for example, the DPW facilities, you know, these, this is a building that doesn’t necessarily have a natural constituency because residents by and large don’t see these buildings, but these buildings flood regularly. And that’s not acceptable. I mean, the town is extraordinarily well run because of the dedication of its employees. They do incredible professional work and they need to have professional facilities.
A lot of the projects that we do are addressing needs for multiple constituencies. The Envision Needham project is at its heart a drainage project and an infrastructure project. It can help us channel traffic appropriately, maintain pedestrian safety — but also all of those businesses flood. But then the icing on the cake is the economic support that it may provide for our businesses and our community.
The Highland Avenue project is a drainage project but the benefits will be pedestrian safety and a more beautiful and functional streetscape, so it’s a twofer.
Vikram Kaul
We’ve been looking at the capital expenditure table as it’s laid out by the town administration. I think the thing which we focus on first is: Is the existing infrastructure requiring service? It starts from there. Before we can build additional infrastructure, we must service our existing infrastructure to have roads which are paved. Parks which are well run, schools which are well funded, services, police, fire, et cetera. Those get priority, right? And then we look at the CapEx table and say, you know, as we plan for it, what’s the debt that’s rolling off? Because that’s also the important element to protect our AAA rating.
So how do we manage the debt cycle along with the capital expenditure requirements? It’s like connecting the chains together if debt’s coming off, and we are able to then fund more of it, right? So then how do we link those pieces together and take it back to the community so that they understand?
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