Lenox Candidates' Forum Touches on River, Health Costs
 Selectmen candidates John McNinch, left, David Roche and Kimberly Reopell Flynn said unfunded liabilities are a pressing issue. |
The informal debate, sponsored by the Berkshire Greens Political Action Committee and moderated by local writer and commentator Daniel Valenti, allowed the candidates — incumbents Kimberly Reopell Flynn and John J. McNinch and challengers W. David Roche Jr. and Eric J. Vincelette — to voice their concerns about the town's current leadership and to make some promises for the future.
Flynn is a real estate paralegal at Heller & Robbins and a trainer at Lenox Fitness; McNinch is proprietor of Old Heritage Tavern; Roche is an instructor with Berkshire Enterprises and owns Aspinwall Adult Equestrian Center; Vincelette is regional vice president of PFS Wealth Advisors.
Roche said the current board is comprised of "good people" but lacks a sense of priority when it comes to future planning.
"In my opinion there is a lack of future planning," he said. "They're good people but my observation has been that we are spending to much time on issues that, for right now, could be put aside.
Roche continued, "we need to focus on unfunded liabilities, health insurance and sewer and water. There doesn't seem to be a to-do list, especially when it comes to pushing ahead with negotiations with Pittsfield to regionalize the sewer system."
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Vincelette, also a member of the Finance Committee, agreed that there was a lack of planning on the part of the board, particularly with regard to welcoming business owners and having a health-care plan in place. He went on to say the board seemed not to have the right "chemistry" needed to move the town forward financially.
"Everyone is coming from the right place, I don't doubt that," he said. "But the chemistry is not there to make the team go. I am really concerned about these unfunded liabilities. Why is this issue not being brought up?"
Flynn, current chairman of the board, responded to Vincelette's concerns, stating more goes on with the Selectmen than meets the public eye.
"A lot of people don't realize that a lot goes on behind the scenes that people don't see on the television," she said. "The mistake we're making is not discussing what goes on in our workshops. [Unfunded liabilities] is something that has been brought to our attention. It's difficult with everything we have to find funding for and it's just one more thing you have to put money aside for even though we've already trimmed all the fat."
(Municipalities have added liabilities — such as expected health-care costs to cover future retirees — to their financial statements. The accounting practice has revealed tens of millions in so-far unfunded liabilities on the horizon.)
McNinch confirmed Flynn's account of financial struggle, saying the board "did not put money aside because we couldn't find it last year."
Valenti pressed each candidate with questions, some personal and all political, including what each believes is the most pressing issue facing the town in 2011 and beyond. For McNinch, the answer was quite simple.
"What makes me most nervous is the EPA cleanup of the Housatonic River," he said. "The capital of this town is already in trouble and I feel like a full dredging cleanup would destroy two-thirds of this town. I'd like to see the EPA hit the hotspots with dredging and have the least impact to the environment around it."
 Eric Vincelette said the town needed to be more business-friendly. |
Vincelette was also concerned with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup but said his most pressing concern is business and health insurance.
"We need to be a more business-friendly community," he said. "And we need to control costs for health care. We're on a completely unsustainable path with the health insurance issue. Costs are flat out bankrupting our town."
Flynn also referred to the health insurance issue as the "big pink elephant in the room."
"We are working to try and contain the cost," she said. "The hard part is that the town has to negotiate with many unions for contracts every year."
In light of these financial issues, Roche said his main platform is and always will be generating income for the town.
"Generating income is necessary so that we don't have an override of Proposition 2 1/2," he said. "We need to look more toward trying to find ways to bring in additional income and earmark those funds for specific projects."
The annual town election is Monday, May 9, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Town Hall. There is also a three-way race for two seats on the School Committee: Incumbents Don W. Fitzgerald and Charles S. Koscher are being challenged by Jeremiah C. Ames. A pdf sample ballot is available here.
The forum was also recorded by Community Television for the Southern Berkshires.
