Dear Lincolnites,
I am writing today to declare my candidacy for the Select Board seat being vacated by James Craig, which will be for a three-year term. I thank James for his many years of service to the town, and I respectfully ask for your support at the town election on Monday, March 28, as I seek to continue my service to Lincoln in a new capacity.
If elected, it would be a bit too much for me to continue to serve in my current role as chair of the Board of Water Commissioners, so I am also announcing my resignation from the commission, effective at the end of our Annual Town Meeting in March. I encourage interested residents to run for this Water Commission seat. Don’t be shy — the new Water Superintendent is fantastic! I also note that if elected to the Select Board, I will offer to be the liaison to the Water Commission and do what I can to help continue our good progress on the work there to strengthen the Water Department and to successfully complete the needed updates to our water infrastructure.
My wife Anne and I have lived in Lincoln for 22 years, and I’ve had the pleasure getting to know many of you while serving on a number of town committees. I was treasurer of Codman Community Farms for three years, a member of the Finance Committee for seven years (as chair for two of those years). I’ve been on the Green Energy Committee for eight years and on the Water Commission for two. In addition, I have had various liaison duties such as helping with the Power Purchase Agreement Subcommittee in charge of getting solar PV panels installed next year on our newly renovated school. I enjoy keeping tabs on what’s going on in town by serving in these positions, and I am perennially refreshed by the humor, intelligence, and thoughtfulness of my fellow volunteers and town staff with whom I’ve worked.
Some of you who know me may believe that I am only interested in the finance aspects of issues and have found that the best way to communicate with me is via a well-constructed spreadsheet. My career was in finance as a portfolio manager and a small business owner, and I’ll admit to believing that there is an important cost/benefit analysis at the heart of many of the issues that we face. If elected, I will offer my assistance and leadership on any such analyses needed for the town.
I have worked extensively with Town Administrator Tim Higgins and Select Board members Jennifer Glass and Jonathan Dwyer in the past, and expect to need only occasional arm-wrestling matches with them to divvy up and collaborate on the work of the Select Board. More generally, I hope to help the Select Board ensure that residents have all of the information they need to make important decisions, such as whether to proceed with building a new community center, or what should happen next regarding South Lincoln redevelopment.
But it is not just about having the information ready for Town Meeting and counting your votes. If we learned anything from the school building project, it was that residents need to be more involved while we develop the proposed solutions to our issues. I’ve been happy to see town leadership encourage more inclusive processes in recent years, and I’d like to help continue that evolution to see what we can do to make resident participation more convenient, productive, and enjoyable for a broader group of people. I believe this has already been happening to some extent. Our pandemic-induced switch to Zoom meetings, for example, has made it easier for many folks to attend meetings. I’d like to continue to pursue new tools and approaches that will bring even more people to town and committee discussions. After all, what’s more important to the Select Board than trying to ensure that we identify and pursue the issues and solutions most favored and important to you, the residents?
Sincerely,
Jim Hutchinson
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.