....................480 Adams Street, Suite #208, Milton Massachusetts, USA • 617.696.7758
 
 
 
 

Incumbents Will
Face Challengers

By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
3/18/10
Incumbents hoping to retain their positions will face competition in next month’s town election.

Selectman Kathy Fagan, who is seeking a second three-year term on the board, will have a contested race on her hands. Robert Sweeney, of 156 Whittier Road, has filed to run against her.

Sweeney, a longtime Town Meeting member, served on the School Committee and has been involved with Milton Youth Hockey.

Fagan, who served as chair of the Selectmen during fiscal year 2009, was elected to the board in April 2007, unseating longtime incumbent James Mullen Jr., who is also the town clerk.

Fagan said her time on the board has included the reopening of the Milton Public Library, the opening of new restaurants, a stable bond rating during the economic downturn and the introduction of several alternative energy initiatives.

“I am proud of the many accomplishments achieved by this Board of Selectmen in the past three years, some of which were my own initiatives but many of which were clearly joint efforts,” Fagan said via e-mail. “In short, we need to make the best use of the resources we already have to problem-solve and decrease our reliance on residential property taxes alone to fund the high-quality town services that residents have come to expect and rely on. As always, Milton’s best resource is our residents and our town employees.”

Sweeney could not be reached despite numerous attempts by the Times.

It was almost a three-person race for the seat. Steven Fruzzetti, of 170 Granite Ave., also filed to run but said he has dropped out of the race.

Fruzzetti said he was running because he has disagreed with some of Fagan’s positions and thought she would run unopposed. But he found out Sweeney had filed and now supports him.

“I got word that no one was going to run against [Fagan],” Fruzzetti said. “But I found out [Sweeney] had filed. We had a conversation. He seems like a great guy. We agree on just about everything.”

Fruzzetti cited two controversial recent town issues – possible property development at Temple Shalom and the Gov. Stoughton farm – as reasons why he considered running. He says he opposed the commercial development proposal at the Temple, which Fagan supported, and also opposes seeing low-income housing on the Gov. Stoughton land. Fagan has not said whether she supports that type of development.

As a co-chair of the Gov. Stoughton Trust Land Committee appointed by Selectmen, Sweeney said he opposes a high-density development and also criticized the committee process for discussing real estate matters during closed-door executive sessions.

Meanwhile, there will be four candidates vying for two seats on the School Committee. The incumbent, Glenn Pavlicek, has filed for re-election and the other three candidates are Margaret Eberhardt, of 18 Stanton Road, Denis Keohane, of 48 Big Blue Drive, and J. Murray Regan, of 41 Centre Lane. School Committee member Beirne Lovely will not seek re-election.

Cheryl Tougias, of 660 Canton Ave., will challenge Ed Duffy, the incumbent seeking re-election on the Planning Board. Tougias, a registered architect, served last summer on an advisory committee to the Planning Board as it weighed options for redevelopment of the Temple Shalom property.

Tougias was in favor of the redevelopment with a CVS Pharmacy while Duffy had consistently opposed it.

Kathleen Heffernan, the incumbent on the Board of Assessors, will also have to vie to keep her seat. Todd Greenwood, of 86 Granite Place, and James Henderson, of 121 Atherton St., have both filed to run for the position. Greenwood was unsuccessful last year in his attempt to unseat longtime Assessor Tom Gunning.

Library Trustees Hyacinth Crichlow, Janet Evans and Ingrid Shaffer will all run unopposed for re-election. So will Town Treasurer James McAuliffe, Moderator Brian Walsh, Park Commissioner Thomas McCarthy, Cemetery Trustee Anthony Sammarco and Board of Health member Anne Fidler.

Eight candidates have filed for four town constable positions. The incumbents are Tamara Berton, Stephen Freeman, Eric Issner and Gary Nunley. The challengers are Daniel Joyce, Robert Mason, Justin O’Shea and Edward Villard.

Town Meeting Members

A breakdown of Town Meeting contests by precinct is listed below.

Precinct One (seven seats): seven candidates for re-election, eight new candidates; Precinct Two (nine seats): six candidates for re-election, three new candidates; Precinct Three (nine seats): nine candidates for re-election, no new candidates; Precinct Four (eight seats): seven candidates for re-election, two new candidates; Precinct Five (seven seats): three candidates for re-election, five new candidates; Precinct Six (nine seats): nine candidates for re-election, three new candidates; Precinct Seven (eight seats): six candidates for re-election, one new candidate; Precinct Eight (nine seats): eight candidates for re-election, six new candidates; Precinct Nine (eight seats): eight candidates for re-election, eight new candidates; Precinct Ten (10 seats): nine candidates for re-election, two new candidates; Precinct Eleven (nine seats): seven candidates for re-election, four new candidates.

Precinct Seven will require a write-in candidate, with only seven candidates filing for eight seats.

The election is Tuesday, April 27.