At last night’s Milton Speaks Candidates Forum Chief Wells became one of three sharply etched issues in the race between John Shields and Denis Keohane for a seat on the Board of Selectmen. In a strongly worded response to a question from Adam Roberts of Milton Patch regarding the one year contract the Chief recently received, Mr. Keohane said the one year contract the Chief received was “disgraceful.”
Keohane similarly labeled Shields’s “No” vote on the Chief’s salary increase disgraceful. The Chief is “beloved” said Keohane and is deserving of a longer contract. Shields took exception to that and noted that no one in town had more than a one year contract and “to single one out for special treatment is wrong.” He added that he did not vote in favor of an increase because of “disciplinary problems” with the Chief and other issues which were “egregious.” Shields said he could elaborate later (candidates were limited to a minute in their responses) if desired. The event did not afford a follow-up.
The Chief was not the only issue on which the candidates differed. Keohane also aggressively disagreed with Shields on the East Milton parking situation saying that Shields’s opposition to parking on the deck was due in part to the fact that he (Shields) was “beholden to people the park is named after.”
Shields said Keohane did not understand the situation. He said parking relief could be found in other ways such as buying property which could create up to 41 spots. He also said the park was protected and the bureaucratic federal and state wrangling that would be necessary to enable parking would be costly and time-consuming.
And they differed on the decision regarding the Stoughton Land. The Selectmen awarded the bid to Pulte Homes for $5 million. Shields defended that decision as honoring the intent of the will. Keohane argued that the bid should have gone to the Copeland Foundation who bid less than half that amount as the town has benefited in numerous ways from their generosity and would continue to in the future. Keohane also cited an issue with the P&S that would permit Pulte to take back some of the 4 acres of land left to the town should they be unable to construct their project on the land they purchased. Keohane said that he was sure that would happen and wanted to be involved in “making the right decisions” when that happened. Shields noted that multiple attorneys had approved the P&S and that Keohane was one of the individuals who had congratulated him when the deal was done.
One issue they did agree on was keeping the Board of Selectmen at three rather than increasing the size to five. This was in response to a question pertainng to the recently formed Government Review Committee.
In closing, Keohane said he is “lucky to be living here” and has the energy and experience to tackle the development issues facing the town. Shields pointed to his strong support for the wind turbine and desire to see that through as well as his record as a “champion for the neighborhoods of this town” as reasons he seeks support of voters for re-election.
NOTE: The Citizens Speak Forum will be rebroadcast on MATV between now and the election. Broadcast times are not yet available but will be posted to their programming guide which can be found here. Candidates received questions from news people representing Milton Patch (Adam Roberts), The Milton Times (Scott McKeen), and 02186.MyTownMatters (Frank Schroth).