Natick Town Seal survey now available online, on paper

April 5, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Natick’s Town Seal Review Committee has released a survey seeking to get public input on creating a new town seal that more accurately reflects the community.

The survey is available online and in paper form in English, Chinese (Mandarin), Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Paper copies are available at Town Hall, Morse Institute Library, Bacon Free Library, the Community-Senior Center, Natick Housing Authority/Coolidge Gardens, the Natick Service Council, and the Department of Public Works. The deadline is May 1.

The survey doesn’t take long to fill out. Among its questions:

Which theme(s) would you like to see on a proposed new town seal? (select up to two)
Which elements(s), if any, would you like RETAINED from the current Natick Town Seal?
Which element(s), if any, would you like REMOVED from the current Natick Town Seal?

As we wrote recently, the Committee has learned a lot through historic research in its efforts to propose a new town seal, and is gathering even more perspective by reviewing approaches taken by other communities.

The Natick committee was created following 2020 Fall Town Meeting approval, and charged with “reviewing the history of town seals in Natick [and] proposing a new town seal after a public process.” The public process has since included a regular series of open meetings.

Town Meeting this past fall via Article 36 got an update on the committee’s work and approved the appropriation of $11K to be used for design services related to a new seal.

Once a design is settled upon, it would need to be approved by Town Meeting as the town’s official seal, as was last done in 1980.

Natick election results are in: Coughlin, Evans win Select Board seats; 2 incumbents & 1 newcomer on School Committee

March 29, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Town of Natick has released unofficial results for Tuesday’s election, and in a good race, Bruce Evans (38%) and Kathryn Coughlin (35%) earned the two open seats. Cody Jacobs got 27% of the vote.

Update: We’ve replaced the unofficial results with the official ones (released 4/1/22) below.

In the five-candidate race for three open School Committee seats, incumbents Julie McDonough and Cathi Collins retained their spots, while newcomer Elise Gorseth won the third seat. While new to School Committee, Gorseth is a Town Meeting member, and until recently was the co-chair of the Natick Special Education Parent Advisory Committee.

Those were the only two contested town-wide races.

Among the other interesting results: In the battle of the Ordways for two uncontested spots on Recreation and Parks Commission, Jessica Ordway scored five more votes than David Ordway, per the unofficial results released by the town on Tuesday night.

The sole ballot question, involving a Charter Amendment proposed at Fall Town Meeting regarding Housing Authority elected officials, was easily approved.

Less than 14% of registered voters cast ballots in the election, according to the unofficial results. That would be similar to last year’s underwhelming number.

The full results, including for Town Meeting members, are embedded below.

Thanks to all who ran for office and for all who voted.

Download (PDF, 267KB)

More: Election 2022: Natick votes Tuesday, March 29

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Natick Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day is April 30—get your tickets

March 24, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Natick Board of Health’s 36th annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day

Saturday, April 30, 9am – 12pm at the Natick Dept. of Public Works, 75 West St.

Tickets must be purchased in advance in one of the following ways:

in person at the Board of Health office, 13 East Central St., Town Hall, 2nd floor with cash or check payable to Town of Natick, you will be given your ticket
with a check payable to the Town of Natick either via US Mail or via the drop box to the right of the Town Hall front door. Please address envelopes: Board of Health, 13 East Central St., Natick MA 01760. Be sure to include your US Mail address so we can mail your ticket to you. NOTE: if you wish to get your ticket by mail, please have the payment into the Board of Health office by Friday, April 22
Tickets will not be sold on site; autos without a ticket will be turned away
Natick Residents only
$10.00 per car, limited to 300 cars

Learn more about what you can or can’t bring, as well as about hazardous waste days in other communities that have reciprocal agreements with Natick. Sorry, no ammo, radioactive materials, or asbestos allowed.

Natick holding town-wide beaver discussion

March 4, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Beavers are really bringing people together in Natick. Three town groups—Natick’s Conservation Commission, Trails and Forest Stewardship Committee, and Open Space Advisory Committee—will unite for a town-wide beaver discussion on Wednesday, March 9 at 7pm

Update (3/11/22): Here’s the Natick Pegasus recording of the meeting:

“The impetus for the discussion is the impact beavers are having on the trails at Town Forest specifically,” says Claire Rundelli, Planner Conservation Agent, Natick Community and Economic Development. “The beaver dam within Little Jennings pond has caused such a backup of water it has flooded out a number of trail sections, including a portion of the main trail in Town Forest. It has also resulted in a bridge needing to be removed, as the high water levels had caused water to flow over the bridge which would have damaged the wood in the long-run if left in place.”

The discussion will take place in a public meeting due to the “sensitive nature of the possible solutions,” she says.

An expert in beaver management from Beaver Solutions is scheduled to present.

Solutions such as the flow devices used at Pickerel Pond and elsewhere locally, aren’t a good fit at the Town Forest. Other options would be to concede to the beavers and reroute the trails, or to trap the animals and put them down humanely (state law doesn’t allow relocating them).

“The Conservation Commission felt it was important to have the discussion in a way that the public could join in and offer opinions, as it is a big decision. We’ve included the Trails and Forest Stewardship and Open Space Advisory Committees to ensure that all relevant Town bodies are having a voice in the discussion as well,” Rundelli says.

Discussing the long-term viability of any solution is important given the number of dams in town, and due to considerations of whether some solutions would be impractical over time. Just because you get rid of today’s beavers doesn’t mean others won’t follow.

If you want to study up before zooming into the meeting, here’s a bunch of background material.

pickerel pond trail winter — Beaver handiwork at Pickerel Pond

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Natick delays vote on Town Governance Study Committee members; DE&I Committee candidates hard to find

March 3, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Update (3/21/22): The Select Board finished the process of interviewing and voting on members of the Town Governance Study Committee at its March 16 meeting (discussion starts at about 1-hour, 24-minutes of recording). The committee members are:

The Natick Select Board on Wednesday, following interviews at their meeting with Town Governance Study Committee candidates, decided to hold off on making their selections because a couple of the dozen candidates weren’t available.

The Committee will examine possible ways to improve the way the town operates and share findings with the Board as soon as the end of the year. It could recommend everything from doing away with Town Meeting to hiring a town manager. It could morph into a more formal charter commission down the road.

The Board heard from a variety of candidates, including a Natick High School senior whose interest in municipal government was stoked during his Eagle Scout process, familiar faces from current town government posts, and those whose experiences stem from both the public and private sectors.

Familiar themes from the candidates are that they love the town and want to help it thrive going forward. One candidate, Town Moderator Frank Foss, said “It’s not that the Town of Natick’s government is broken. It’s that it could be better…”

Candidate Lisa Tabenkin said during her statement and interview that it will be important to find out what does work as well as what doesn’t. From her time on the School Committee, she said, she saw well different boards can collaborate.

Former Board of Selectmen member Carol Gloff termed the effort a challenging research project, and asked by the Board whether she comes in with any preconceived notions of possible outcomes, she replied “I don’t…I really want to look at this with an open mind.”

Candidate Daniel Sullivan pointed out that Natick’s Finance Committee and Town Meeting really pile up the time and meetings that members commit to, making it clear to him that “participation in municipal government in Natick was really more akin to an endurance sport.” For this and other reasons, he said there is a need to assess how Natick is run, in part to find ways to make civic participation possible for more people.

DE&I talent hard to find

When Natick called for the creation of an 11-member Equity Task Force in 2020 charged with recommending how the town might go about ensuring diversity, equity & inclusion in all it does, there was no shortage of candidates. However, finding candidates for the standing committee that the task force recommended has been a tougher task.

While a few quality candidates have stepped forward, not enough of them have to fill out a committee roster. So the Select Board is going to hold off pursuing new candidates and reassess in a few months. It might be easier to find candidates once the town gets a chief diversity officer in place. The fact that the town at that point has a chief diversity officer could be a draw for potential committee members.

Hiring a chief diversity officer has been a challenge of its own, as such professionals are in high demand by governments, schools, and business. When asked about the status of Natick’s hiring efforts, Town Administrator Jamie Erickson said during the Select Board meeting that a hiring is “not right around the corner.”

“With all our job positions, we’re finding that the applicant pool is pretty slim, it’s not unique to the chief diversity officer,” he said.

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