Achievements: a record of service to Natick
Board of Selectmen Achievements | Community Achievements In
my view, achievements on the Board of Selectmen are more about what the
Board and the Town accomplish and how well we function as a team, and
less about the accomplishments of an individual. It is important
to function effectively as a member of a team, while bringing
particular strengths to the deliberations and actions of the Board.
As I ask for the opportunity to serve another term, the issues on
which I have played a significant role include: Financial Stability and Economic Development
Transportation
Communications
Human Services
Management
- Helped hire new Town Administrator and Fire Chief and ensure successful transition to new management
- Worked closely with new Comptroller to improve coordination and communication for Town financial functions
Public Safety
- As Public Safety liaison, worked with new Fire Chief to identify priorities and timing of department improvements
- Worked with Police leadership to address improvements in vehicle and pedestrian safety
- Served on West Natick Fire Station Study Committee and drafted committee report
Openness and Citizen Participation
Leadership
Community Achievements
Click for more information about...
Massachusetts Selectmen's Association
The MSA
is a statewide organization that provides professional support and
encourages best practices by the Selectmen of the 301 Towns in the
Commonwealth. As a representative on the MSA Board, I help create
programming and materials to improve the quality of service by elected
officials, while learning how to be more effective on behalf of
Natick and other towns by advocating for local interests at the State
level. Massachusetts Municipal Association
I serve on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Municipal Association,
a nonprofit, nonpartisan association that provides advocacy, training,
publications, research and other services to Massachusetts cities and
towns. The MMA advocates on behalf of Natick and all 351 cities
and towns in the state on matters relating to local funding,
legislation and regulations, local services and many other issues that
affect our quality of life and our finances. Local Government Advisory Commission
The LGAC
meets monthly with the Governor and Lt. Governor to discuss issues of
imprtance to cities and Towns. The MMA Board of Directors
comprises the majority of the LGAC. Among the issues that I have
discussed with the Administration through the LGAC are local aid,
charter school funding reform, 40B housing regulations, transportation
and other subjects that bear directly on Natick. Natick Education Foundation
I served as Co-President and President of the Natick Education Foundation from 1999 to 2002. The
NEF is an independent non-profit, started by Natick citizens in 1990,
whose mission is to promote excellence and innovation in the Natick
Public Schools by raising funds and awarding grants to educators and
parents for programs that are worthy and sustainable. During my term as
President, we awarded scores of grants to every public school (thanks
to the generosity of the Natick community), and expanded the NEF’s
mission to engage the public on important issues of public education,
including an October 1998 forum on middle school facilities titled Middle Ground.
Town Meeting Member
I was a Town Meeting memberfrom 1998 until 2006, with a near-perfect
attendance record. As an example of providing leadership, at Fall 2003
Town Meeting, I led an effort to amend the Natick bylaws to require
Town Meeting to address the entire warrant before dissolving. Prior to
this action, it was possible for Town Meeting to end without voting on,
or even debating one or more articles placed near the end of the
warrant – even citizen’s petitions that were brought before Town
Meeting. A majority of Town Meeting agreed that we were elected to do
all the business before us, and the article passed.
Middle School Election
I served on the steering committee for Natick Champions for Education
(after our son was out of middle school) in the 2000 campaign to
replace an obsolete and overcrowded Wilson Middle School and provide
needed improvements to Kennedy Middle School. I created and maintained
the campaign’s web site at www.natickchampions.net, which also included a list of 800 residents and businesses who endorsed the campaign. I am particularly proud of our slogan: Together for Natick Schools because so many people came together for a worthwhile cause.
Natick.info
I am a proponent of publishing information about town government and
the local community. In 2001 I created the community web site, Natick.info,
which has since been visited more than 100,000 times. When this site
was active almost all town organizations, government departments, event
calendars and other non-commercial resources were linked from one site
that was frequently updated and responsive to user
suggestions. Working with other volunteers, Natick.info also provided
extensive information about Town Meeting and town elections. The
site is not currently being maintained, but is available to a committed
volunteer.
Natickhighschool.net
Created in late 2000 with my wife Jeanne, for 3-1/2 years this was the
NHS web site, including information on the 2001 modernization study
and much more. Big Disclaimer: Jeanne gets credit for carrying out most
of the work on natickhighschool.net after it was up and running. Also:
only alumni pages are now linked from natickhighschool.net.
The site has been offered to the School Department for its use;
and it will be available for information about the NHS project.
TCAN
I was an early supporter of the Center for Arts in Natick
and have long supported and believed in the arts as a vital force in
our community. The March 2004 rupture between the founder and the
majority of the Board of Directors was a painful and, for many, lasting
split characterized by anger and protest. With many friends on both
sides and in the middle, my response was to promote dialogue and
understanding, including the organization of REMIX
in May 2004, a public event intended to help people on all sides talk
face-to-face to help people better deal with a traumatic situation. I
believe that leaders have a duty to respond to adversity with dignity
and wisdom.
Along
with other volunteer responsibilities, from January to December 2005 I
served as Chair Pro Tem of the TCAN Council of Electors, a group of
about 55 people (including members of the TCAN Board) from Natick and
surrounding communities, who are charged with nominating and electing
the future board. Over the course of a year, with a lot of thought and
effort from many individuals, we established a process for board
nominations and elections that will ensure the continued success of
TCAN with the support of the communities it serves.
Pay As You Throw
I organized and led the campaign to preserve Natick's Pay As You Throw
program in 2003, after a referendum was called to overturn this
program. PAYT was important to preserve town services and ensure
curbside trash and recycling for Natick. I started Natick Saves,
a committee to preserve PAYT, and in a high turnout local election in
December 2003 (27% of voters) PAYT was upheld by 72% - 28%.
Although
some consider it a "hidden tax," PAYT promotes personal responsibility
and increases the rate of recycling. After a year of study, Natick
started PAYT in July of 2003, and has since had a decline in trash
tonnage of about 25%, with a similar increase in recycling. As a
result, sanitation crews work four days per week instead of five, and
now work on highway projects while Monday trash pickups have been
eliminated.
Community Preservation Act
Starting
in November 2004, I led a group of Natick residents to conduct public
forums and education about the CPA, in part using a web site at natickcpa.org,
and sponsored a Town Meeting article to create a Study Committee.
Following the committee’s report, Town Meeting in November 2005 voted
to put the CPA on the ballot in March 2006. Now it’s for the people of
Natick to decide on the CPA, and I am proud to have helped to give them
the choice.
Since
2001, various elected officials in Natick have talked about the CPA,
but none of our leaders actually did anything to effectively move it
forward so that the people could decide – even as we have lost open
space to development, as rising housing costs have forced out a new
generation of young families, as our playing fields and recreation
facilities are crowded and overused, and many of our historic assets
have deteriorated. The CPA was something for the people to decide.
Citizen Participation
I
urge citizens to be well informed about civic issues, to vote in local
elections, and to participate in their government. Two examples of
my leadership in this area are the Town Government Open House and the Natick Votes Tuesday signs visible in the weeks before each election. Another was the extensive civic information available at Natick.info for which is available to an interested volunteer to maintain and improve.
I
helped to organize the first Town Government Open House, an event that
brought dozens of volunteers representing over 30 town boards to the
Morse Library on November 14, 2005. Co-sponsored by the Selectmen and
the Natick League of Women Voters, this “volunteer job fair” and
networking event helped bring out interested citizens who want to learn
more and participate in our government, while providing a unique
opportunity for volunteers to meet and learn from each other. It
has since been incorporated into the outreach program of Town
government in Natick.
The Natick Votes
signs were the result of a suggestion from my wife, Jeanne, who noted
similar signs in other communities. I first brought the idea to the
Board of Selectmen in October 2001 and they were installed before the
March 2002 election, thanks to the efforts of the Board and the Natick
Highway Department.
I
believe that of Natick's many blessings, the power of ideas and the
energy of our people shine the brightest, and I encourage my
fellow citizens to invest their time in our community.
If you want to know more about these achievements, the issues where I have made a difference, or other Natick subjects, please send your questions and comments at joshua@ostroff.net or 508 654-3330.
|
