Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/tag/election-2015/page/6/)
Two candidates seek to become Watertown’s Town Council President – a position which heads the Town Council, and also sits on the School Committee. Current Town Council President Mark Sideris seeks his fourth term, and he is challenged by former Town Council President Clyde Younger. The election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Watertown News asked both candidates a set of questions.
Clyde Younger is running for Town Council President in the Nov. 3 election. Watertown News sent the Council President a set of questions about the upcoming election. 1) As Town Council President, how will you balance the needs and wants of the Town Administration with those of Watertown residents? The imbalance in the city centers on the centralization of power in one person’s hand.
Town Council President Mark Sideris is running for re-election in the Nov. 3 Election. Watertown News sent the candidates a set of questions to those running for Council President:
1) As Town Council President, how will you balance the needs and wants of the Town Administration with those of Watertown residents? The needs in wants of the residents is always first and foremost in my mind. Those tax dollars are providing the services we provide.
Editor,
I am Penny (Penelope) Peoples: Watertown resident, book lover, and would-be library trustee. Since moving to Watertown in 2001, I have been a constant user and admirer of the Watertown Free Public Library (WFPL), often thinking that it is like the beating heart of our community. It fosters such important values as lifelong learning, creativity, imagination, community building and participation, inclusivity and diversity — to name but a few. Grateful as I am to all those past and present who have created and maintained this model of library excellence, I am eager for a chance to myself contribute to our community in the arena for which I am best suited, namely as one of the six trustees who develop policy for the WFPL and oversee its leadership. Joining with trustee colleagues, library administration and staff, I want to assure that the library maintains its current excellence in a host of areas and improves its operations and programming to meet evolving challenges.
Watertown’s current Town Council President and immediate-past Council President shared their views on communications, providing services and preserving the character of Watertown during the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum on Sunday. Mark Sideris has been Council president for the past six years, and succeeded Clyde Younger, who is running this year. This issue of communications with residents and others has been a frequent topic of discussion at candidate forums.
Sideris said right now the town relies heavily on the Town of Watertown website, but he wants that to change. “I would like try communicating on social media and other areas so we will be more engaged with the public,” Sideris said. “There are difficulties in doing that with the Open Meetings law, but I am working on that.”
Town of Watertown residents, my name is Tim Tracy and I have been a Library Trustee for the past two terms. I am running for re-election, and would like for you to consider casting your vote for me once again. During my tenure as a Watertown Free Public Library (WFPL) Trustee, I have seen such positive continued growth and accomplishments in our facility. The Library continues to be overwhelmingly well received by residents, taxpayers and neighbors from surrounding communities. I have prided myself in being a trustee who doesn’t micro manage, and have always been of the opinion of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The Watertown Free Public Library is far from being broke. On the contrary, it s a highly motivated, efficiently run, and well respected organization, and as a Trustee I am proud to be associated with such a town asset.
The School Committee candidates displayed some of their differences during the Candidate Forum hosted by the Watertown Education Foundation on Thursday night. For the second week running the School Committee members answered questions about serving on the School Committee, and the challengers and incumbents had differing views. (See highlights from the first forum here.)
The candidates did not share the same view of using test scores and making goals to measure the district’s progress. School Committee member Julie McMahon said she has participated in the Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald’s evaluation every year and she thinks the goals and evaluation are good ones for Watertown. “Some people say other towns have these goals,” McMahon said.
Dear Editor,
We are writing you because we believe there is a clear choice for District A Councilor in the upcoming town election. Angeline Kounelis has been advocating for East Watertown long before she became a Town Councilor. It goes back to the East Watertown Betterment Association {see the Boston Globe clip below}. This has been a very busy year for all our Councilors, but nobody has been as busy as Angie. She has been out almost every night front and center for the best interest of District A.
This is the list of the many district projects and issues she has dealt with on our behalf: Athenahealth, the Arsenal Project, the Marriott Hotel, the Verizon building, CVS, Greenough Boulevard, the Crossroad on the Charles water break, snow dumping on Elm Street, the Elm Street Hotel and rodent problems.
This is in addition to her council work on townwide issues.