Select Board candidates outline ideas, priorities

(L-R) Select Board candidates Julie Beckham, David Clough, JR McCourt and Greg Murphy

In a remarkably smooth, efficient and cordial panel discussion staged live this week in front of a packed audience inside the Community Room at the Canton Public Library, the four candidates in this year’s hotly contested race for two open Select Board seats formally introduced themselves to the voters while also sharing their platforms, skillsets, and overall vision for the future of Canton.

Co-sponsored for the second year in a row by the Canton Lions Club and the team behind the online, non-partisan Canton Voter Guide, Monday’s forum was moderated by former Select Board and Finance Committee member Mark Porter and tackled a wide range of issues with a forward-looking focus.

The lone incumbent in the field, lifelong Cantonite and current board chair John “JR” McCourt, drew on his direct experience in the role but also highlighted what he feels are some other key strengths that make him the right person for the job at the right time for Canton. “I’m giving you commitment,” he said, “and I’m giving you sincerity and honesty. I’m always there. This is a time-consuming job, and I’m going to give you every ounce of [myself] as I already have.”

McCourt also cited his ability to separate the personal from the professional, to achieve consensus to get projects done — including a key priority of his, the ongoing renovations at the library — as well as his willingness to listen to residents and to respect their viewpoints. “You may have totally different feelings, but your job is to listen and to make your decisions based on the best information that you have available,” he said.

Challenger Julie Beckham noted that she too grew up in Canton; however, there was a time, she said, particularly during her teen years, when she was itching to leave. “But after living and working in New York City for nearly a decade, I was drawn back to Canton by family and found community in the very place I left,” Beckham said. “I found community as I started my own family, as I launched the Greater Boston Drama Studio out of Pequitside … as I raised my blended family, navigated CAPT meetings, handling the schedules of town sports with club sports and play practices, managing the delicate balance of a full-time career in banking while serving on advisory boards as an accredited financial counselor.”

Beckham also touted her willingness to push past fear to seek bold and groundbreaking solutions to challenges facing the community and pledged to never “pretend” to know what she doesn’t know. “I will always seek [the opinions of] professionals and experts,” she said. “Just like I do my due diligence as a banker, I would do my due diligence as a Select Board member so that I am properly informed before I make decisions that could really affect residents in this town.”

Fellow challengers David Clough and Gregory Murphy both noted that while they were not born and raised in Canton, they are proud to have put down roots here, and both have jumped headfirst into public service in the town — Clough as a two-term member of the FinCom and vice chair of the Police Audit Committee and Murphy as a volunteer on several committees, including the Capital Planning, Sustainability & Climate Action, and Economic Development committees.

In several of his responses at Tuesday night’s forum, Murphy, who works as a process improvement specialist, pointed to the data-driven framework he developed, called the Canton Nexus, which is outlined in full on his website, gregmurphyforcanton.com.

“Basically, it’s my strategy for how we can be more efficient and eliminate what I refer to as the ‘silo tax,’” noted Murphy. “It’s the inefficiencies when town departments don’t collaborate and it cost taxpayers more money.”

Another key piece of his platform is his maintenance horizon system, which he described as a tool that would allow the town to “track the data for all of our infrastructure so we can make more informed decisions.”

“These are not just fly-by-night ideas; these are the same type of processes that I’ve implemented for decades across different organizations — state-level, corporations, universities,” said Murphy. “That’s where my professional background is, and that’s what I want to bring to Canton.”

Clough also encouraged voters to visit his website, davidclough.com, which he said is chock-full of recommendations and ideas to improve Canton’s governance and fiscal outlook.

Having built a successful business from the ground up, Clough said he wants to take some of the lessons he’s learned as an entrepreneur and apply them at the municipal level and create “synergies for the town” to help maximize its collective wealth while lessening the tax burden on residents. In particular, Clough said there are “levers” that can be pulled with regard to the annual tax classification hearing that can help lower taxes for property owners.

“We’ve actually, over the past several years, pushed more of the burden back onto the residents,” he said. “I want to push that back [onto businesses] to help neutralize the impact of the Galvin Middle School [debt-exclusion tax] that’s coming down the pipeline.”

All four of the candidates agreed that while it will be beneficial to the town and future generations of students, the new GMS is a costly endeavor that will require the town to tighten its purse strings in the coming years. However, they differed somewhat in their budget priorities as well as their overall approach.

McCourt said he would place an emphasis on maintaining the services that Canton currently offers while prioritizing the upkeep of existing town buildings. Clough pointed to his tax shift proposal and said he would also seek to eliminate the Building Renovations Committee, which he described as a group of “special-interest volunteers,” and replace it with a new department head position — a municipal building operations manager — to oversee major building projects in the town.

Murphy referred to his Canton Nexus strategy, which he said is all about working together to address problems proactively and efficiently before they become emergencies. Additionally, he suggested that town leaders “dust off” a 2020 study that outlined a plan to revitalize the Route 138 corridor, address the zoning concerns raised by existing businesses, and move the plan forward over the next few years.

Beckham highlighted what she expects will be the growing importance of the town’s Department of Elder & Human Services for an aging population, while also emphasizing the importance of following the town’s recently completed master plan implementation strategy. “This is a roadmap,” she said, “and if all municipal workers and all committee members and board members are focused on achieving it, then we will be more efficient. And when you’re more efficient you save money. And when you invite more people to the table … they are more likely to get involved and donate [their time and energy] to the town.”

On the subject of the opt-in Specialized Code that’s being proposed at the upcoming Annual Town Meeting, both Beckham and Murphy said they are enthusiastic supporters, with Murphy citing the grant opportunities that the new codes would unlock and Beckham emphasizing residents’ obligation to undo years of environmental harm done by prior generations.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Clough argued that the Specialized Code would severely hamper new growth and development and also discourage businesses from setting up shop in the town. McCourt said he too plans to vote no on the Specialized Code, in part due to housing affordability concerns as well as the lack of stakeholder input that’s gone into the proposal as constituted.

Monday’s forum also covered a number of other topics, including candidates’ thoughts on government transparency as well as the use of Flock license plate reader cameras by the Police Department and which agencies should have access to that data. Candidates for Library Board of Trustees and Board of Health also participated on Monday, while a prior forum featured candidates for Planning Board, School Committee, and Board of Assessors.

Both forums are being rebroadcast on Canton Community TV and are available to stream at cantoncommunitytv.org.

Voters are also encouraged to visit cantonmavoterguide.com as well as candidates’ individual campaign websites prior to voting early or on Election Day, which is Tuesday, April 7.

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