The race for Town Meeting is shaping up to be a competitive one with more candidates than seats in all 10 of the town’s voting precincts. There are currently 114 certified candidates for 83 seats on the ballot this April. At least five additional candidates turned in signature sheets before the deadline Feb. 18 and may be added.
To get on the ballot, candidates must obtain a minimum of 10 signatures from registered voters in their precincts and have them verified by Town Clerk Louise Miller and her staff.
The current field of 114 includes 76 incumbents seeking to return for new three-year terms. Of the 71 residents who pulled papers to run as challengers, 36 have had their signatures certified and at least five and possibly more are awaiting certification.
In addition to the 80 seats up this year (eight in each of the town’s ten voting precincts), there are three other open seats created by incumbents who either moved out of town, resigned from Town Meeting or moved within town to another precinct.
Last month’s special election to repeal the MBTA Communities zoning that had been passed at Fall Town Meeting has clearly spurred interest in town government. Dan Matthews, a Town Meeting incumbent seeking reelection and also a member of the Select Board from 1995-2022, said that other than redistricting years, “This is the most candidates in recent memory.”
The Observer interviewed a small sample of the many first-time candidates.
“This will be a first for me,” said Sean Robbins of Precinct A. “I never had any intent to do this but some of the more recent issues that have gone on in the town have inspired me.”
Robbins has lived in Needham for two years. “Before that,” he said, “my wife and I lived in a one-bedroom in Brookline. We scrimped and saved for 10 years to buy a house in a suburb.”
Robbins grew up in Long Beach, Calif., where he said the City Council was unreachable. He watched last fall’s Town Meeting from the balcony in Powers Hall. “I was amazed by the style of open government,” Robbins said.
A project manager for a clinical trials research company, Robbins came to Boston as a swimmer recruited by Boston College.
“The zoning issue was the first thing that got me really interested,” he said. “The expanded plan didn’t jive with what the town citizens actually wanted. The Town Meeting went 60-40 for the jumbo plan and the residents were 60-40 in the other direction.” Robbins said he plans to support the minimally compliant zoning plan.
In his brief time in Needham, Robbins said he has gotten to know a lot of his neighbors, and many of them feel the same way. He said the friendliness of his neighborhood has been a very positive change from Brookline.
Adam Cole, a first-time candidate for Town Meeting from Precinct I, is a Needham High School teacher as well as the boys’ varsity swimming and diving coach and the boys’ varsity golf coach. “The zoning issue awakened a lot of people to make sure that all voices in the town were heard,” Cole said.
He believes the plan would have resulted in larger class sizes. “The Needham schools are excellent and I want them to continue to be excellent,” he said. If elected, he plans to support the minimally compliant rezoning plan.
Cole graduated from Needham High School in 1999 and lives in the same precinct where he grew up. Before the zoning battle, Cole said he didn’t follow politics that closely and he hasn’t served on any town boards or committees, though he had once applied.
Cole said that he is also concerned with the growth of town spending. He thinks that there are areas where the town budget can be cut, but declined to specify them. “There are always ways to make government more efficient,” he said.
Bill Lenahan, who is running in Precinct F, is an attorney with 51 years of experience, including work as special counsel to towns with land court issues. He is a graduate of Needham High School Class of 1968. Before moving back to Needham, he lived in Millis where he was on the Planning Board and chaired the Housing Committee. In Needham, he has served on three school Health and Safety Committees, including one at the former Hillside Elementary School that dealt with the trichloroethylene flume that was flowing near the school.
Lenahan collected signatures for the No campaign and spoke as a “non-invited guest” at last fall’s Town Meeting arguing against the zoning warrant item that passed.
Lenahan claims that the school population would have risen sharply with the new housing. He argued that even the 136-unit Modera development on Greendale Avenue which pays property taxes at a higher commercial rate, creates a financial burden for the town because of the school-age population that resides there.
Lenahan said that he would vote for the minimally compliant plan but “only because I have to. I didn’t move into Needham to move into Brookline. ”
Jeremy Sacco, a first-time candidate from Precinct F, was also drawn into Needham politics by the recent special election. Sacco went door-to-door campaigning in favor of the zoning plan that was ultimately defeated.
“I was on the Yes side, because that’s the way stuff was actually going to get built,” he said. “Whatever we can do to get more housing variety in Needham matters to me.”
Sacco, a marketing writer, is also a graduate of NHS. He said, “I’ve been thinking for a while that I wanted to get more involved with the town,” he said. “I know a couple of my classmates from ’91 are in Town Meeting.”
Sacco is also a devoted supporter of the Needham schools. “I got my start as a musician in Needham. I’m still singing and playing the guitar to this day,” Sacco said. “It’s really good how Needham schools focus on the whole person, not just getting you into the best college possible.”
Sacco looks forward to moving past the zoning vote and tackling other issues. “I supported the yes side, but I am happy to see that the no vote seems to be supporting the base plan. At least, that’s going in the right direction,” he said.
Eliot Jekowsky has lived in Needham since 1989 and is running for the first time in Precinct C. He said he is interested in being more involved in town, and now that he’s retired he has the time. “I enjoy organizational work. I was the president of the congregation at First Parish in Needham for three years.”
Jekowsky said the zoning issue and the polarized views that emerged was part of his motivation. He had favored the expanded plan and said a goal if elected, “is to be able to better understand the detail and the rationale for the kind of different positions on that so that I can make a rational judgment about how to approach this issue.”
He also said he thinks the general climate in the country is calling on everyone to be involved. “So it’s a way for me to be engaged locally and contribute.”
Jane Volden is a first-time candidate from Precinct B. She cited rising taxes as her primary reason for throwing her hat into the ring. “Our taxes are very high and we’re looking at a significant increase with school construction,” she said. “You want to see if there are other areas to cut.”
Volden, a retired IT professional for the Massachusetts courts, has lived in Needham for 10 years. Before that, she lived in Medfield which has an open town meeting, a system that she prefers.
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