Candidates answer questions from press panel

By Mary Macedo, Neighb News Correspondent

On Wednesday, 3/7 Fairhaven candidates voiced their messages to the public at the candidates’ night held at the Fairhaven Senior Center. It was covered by the Govern­ment Access Channel and will run on Channel 18 until the election on April 2.

Fairhaven Selectboard member, Charles Murphy emceed, allowing each candidate an opening statement, followed by questions from two panelists: Beth David, editor of the Fairhaven Neighborhood News, and Montana Samuels, editor of The Acushnet/Fairhaven Advocate.

Fairhaven has two contested races: Board of Health and Board of Public Works. In the other anticipated contested race, incumbent Tree Warden Brian Bowcock withdrew at the last minute.

For the Board of Health, first up was Barbara Acksen, a current Commissioner of Trust Funds and former Board of Health.

Ms. Acksen told voters that she has been working in the healthcare field for over 40 years and that she is passionate about healthcare, and experienced developing regulations.

She said would like to accomplish direction and education to the public about the BOH and what they do. Ms Acksen said she would also work on regulating safety of food, garbage, sewage, air quality, and disease control.

Ms. Acksen explained that she would like to develop an opioid task force in Fairhaven because it is an upcoming issue. Ms. Acksen said she was a part of the first task force in the 1970’s in New Bedford.

Ms. Acksen has a PHD in Psychology, has her own practice, and has been a professor.

She said she would also like to work on recreational marijuana regula­tions and how to get people to comply with all the regulations.

An area, she said, that has been ignored and is currently being abused is the use of service animals.

Massage parlors are also an area that she said she felt was being neglected, and they have been used for human trafficking.

All that, she said, along with  educating people about recycling, another area that is currently not being properly used, and is costing the town more than it should.

Ms. David asked a question from one of her readers about what the future of the board may look like. Ms. David said her readers are concerned about previous news reports of board members tipping off restaurants before they are inspected. She asked Ms. Acksen what she could do about it and what she would do to change the public’s perception of the board.

Ms. Acksen said it was very disturbing to hear and that the public should be able to trust the board. One way to help would be by bringing the BOH to work with other boards.

Mr. Samuels asked Ms. Acksen asked about the knowledge to the public about marijuana and how she plans to make sure the public is getting real facts on the issue.

Ms. Acksen said the biggest issue with marijuana use is that there is no education on it. She plans to put together a pre­senta­tion to edu­cate the public.

Ms. Acksen faces Michael Silvia, a former Selectboard member.

Mr. Silvia said that he was there hoping to return to public life. He said he left the Selectboard when his mother was diagnosed with dementia.

The stress of his mother’s diagnosis along with a lot of contentious meetings at the time, led him to decide to leave public life, he said. But he felt it was time to return.

Mr. Silvia said a big thing he would like to work on with the BOH is educating the public. Mr. Silvia said he wants the board to get the public to comply, no punish them. He said he wants consistency, fairness, and friendliness.

Mr. Silvia said that he wants to make sure the board makes decisions because “sometimes the worst decision is no decision.”

He said the BOH is involved in practical things that affect people, like septic systems failing, and inspecting restaurants to keep people safe. He said the rules and regulations need to be used with common sense, though, to allow nonprofits to hold events involving food.

Ms. David also asked Mr. Silvia how he would handle a situation of a fellow board member tipping off restaurants before they are inspected. Mr. Silvia asked if these were just allegations or if there was actual proof. He said that the new health agent is a straight shooter and takes no bribes.

Ms. David explained that she was not asking about the health inspector and said nothing about bribes, but that she was referring to members of the elected board doing shady things and that it was not a wild allegation, and the situation has been reported on in the past.

Mr. Silvia said that he would address the situation if a fellow board member engaged in unethical behavior.

Mr. Samuels asked if Mr. Silvia had any experience with healthcare or the Board of Health.

“It’s an elected board, so anyone can be elected,” Mr. Silvia said.

He explained that neither he nor his opponent had experience with food science or sewage.

“I’m not going to stand here and pretend I know. But I know who to contact and who to rely on,” said Mr. Silvia. “The key is supporting the professionals.”

The only other contested race for Board of Public Works has three people running for two seats.

Incumbent Robert “Hoppy” Hobson said that he has lived in the town for 75 years and has been on the Board of Public Works for nine years.

He said he has accomplished a lot with the BPW, such as the major work on Green Street, paving dirt roads, opening the recycling center, and hiring great employees.

Mr. Hobson said that there are a lot of upcoming projects for the BPW he would like to continue working on, including town employees not being paid enough, and helping the Sewer Department find money to upgrade the sewer treatment plant.

Ms. David asked about the anaerobic digester.

Mr. Hobson said that the digester was a waste of money from the beginning and has cost the town $9-10 million. He said it still does not work properly and has not saved the town money.

“I’m not sure what is going to happen with it,” he  said.

Ms. David also asked if Mr. Hobson agreed that all activities should stop at Cooke Memorial Park even though the state said it is okay to use it.

Mr. Hobson said that Cooke Park is a quaint little place that should be utilized. He noted that he was in the minority on that vote.

“If it is a 4-1 vote the one vote is me,” Mr. Hobson.

Mr. Samuels asked if Mr. Hobson plans to use more forward thinking, rather than reacting.

Mr. Hobson said he would like to fix things before they go wrong. He said the BPW tries to maintain what they have and look to the future.

The sewage treatment plant is going to be the major problem and a major money issue he said.

The other BPW incumbent, Keith Silvia, told voters that he has lived in Fairhaven for 34 years and has been on the BPW for 14 months. He said he has learned a lot in the last year.

Mr. Silvia said that the BPW has done a lot of great hiring and has currently been working on the big projects in the Sewer Department.

The Sewer Department needs $5 million worth of immediate upgrades and $25-30 million to reach the nitrogen levels required by the state.

Mr. Silvia said the BPW has increased the sewer rates by 35 cents, which gives the BPW $150,000 more a year, but the town will need to do more to get the money they need. He said they are looking for grants

He said that he would like to be reelected to the board to follow through on all that and to keep the cost for residents as low as possible.

Ms. David also asked Mr. Silvia for his opinion on holding activities at Cooke Park.

Mr. Silvia said he voted to stop activities because not all the evidence is there and he would not want people playing on top of his family’s graves. He explained that one of the groups is looking to raise money to have an archeological dig, and he would like to see that to settle the argument.

The final candidate competing for a BPW seat was newcomer Albert Martin. He told voters he has lived in Fairhaven since 1979 and has been a town meeting member for more than 20 years and worked for the Highway Department for 23 years.

Mr. Martin said he believed that Mr. Hobson and Mr. Silvia were doing a great job on the BPW, but he would like to be on the board as well.

Ms. David asked Mr. Martin his opinion on Cooke Park.

Mr. Martin said that like Mr. Silvia he would not want people playing on his family’s graves, but that he would like to see it get dug up to get to the bottom of it.

Mr. Samuels asked Mr. Martin if the BPW’s money should be utilized for the sewer issues or to get to the bottom of the Cooke Park issue.

Mr. Martin said that he personally would like to know what is going on at the park.

Ms. David asked why Mr. Martin is trying get on the BPW if he thought his opponents were doing a great job.

Mr. Martin said that no one knows his name or where he came from and he did not think the public was being enough informed, specifically in the process of roads and how they are repaired.

Three candidates running unop­posed also addressed voters.

Bob Espindola is running for re-election to the Selectboard, and incumbent Mark Sylvia is running to retain his seat as Town Moderator.

G. Bourne Knowles also is running unopposed for Tree Warden, as incumbent Brian Bowcock withdrew.

A newcomer to politics, Mr. Knowles told voters he has lived and worked in Fairhaven for 30 years and has been a call firefighter for 28 years.

He said trees are his passion. He is a certified arborist, which requires ongoing education to keep certified, and he is a licensed pesticide applicator.

Mr. Knowles said he would like to focus on preserving and planting instead of simply cleaning up trees after it is too late. He wants to emphasize choosing the right trees to go in certain places in town.

He said that the job is to treat, protect, and preserve.

Mr. Knowles explained that there are specific species of trees that will thrive in the town. He explained that  there are  procedures that can make sure that trees do not overgrow their boundaries. There are types of treeas that they should plant because they will thrive in this area rather than plant trees that could be hazardous.

Ms. David asked if Mr. Knowles if there could be a conflict of interest doing the same work for the town as he does for his day job at G. Bourne Knowles and Company.

He said if an issue occurs and one or the other has to go, he will choose the town.

School Committee incumbents Donna McKenna and Colin Veitch were unable to attend, because they attended the SC’s budget meeting on the same night. They are both running unopposed.

The event is also available online at https://www.fairhaventv.com •••

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