Hello Milton neighbors!

As candidate for Park Commissioner, I am grateful for the opportunity to share some of my ideas on improving Parks and Recreation for all Milton residents. I am a Town Meeting Member from Precinct 2 where I live with my wife Carolynn and our four small children. When not at home being a dad, I am part owner of an electrical contracting company acting as its chief financial officer. I am a former Director of the Nativity House homeless shelter and am a certified public accountant. I graduated from Boston College High School and from Boston College with degrees in both Accounting and Philosophy.

I bring fresh ideas and new perspective to Milton. From what I see, our Parks and Recreation does a good job in certain areas while falling behind our neighbors in others. Parks and Recreation serves two primary functions: oversee and maintain recreational parks and run recreational programming. Our town has beautiful fields that I regularly enjoy with my kids, but capital additions and maintenance of our structures lags behind. Similarly, there are some good recreational programs focused on ages 7-17. Yet there is virtually no programming for young children and seniors. I propose we take Parks and Recreation in a different direction to address our town’s needs.

How do we do this? I support shifting the top-level management of the Parks and Recreation department from our volunteer, part-time Park Commission to the professional, full-time management of our Town Administrator. There is an amazing opportunity to make our Park Commission and Parks and Recreation more accountable and transparent than ever before. Parks and Recreation would become a town department and no longer an independent entity. Commissioners could move away from day-to-day administrative tasks and focus on strong Parks and Recreation policy and trying to increase and secure funding for our capital structures and recreational programming.

Once Parks and Recreation became a Town of Milton department, I would also work towards consolidating the upkeep maintenance of all of our town parks and grounds – those under the control of our School Committee, Department of Public Works, and Parks and Recreation – to one central maintenance department. Consolidation will save our town money. And in a year where we are faced with a property tax override, our community needs to embrace smart, thoughtful ways of becoming more efficient. With no maintenance responsibilities, the Parks and Recreation director and staff will be able to provide more efficient service, better coordinate and schedule our sports fields, and significantly develop more balanced and diverse recreational programming at no additional cost to taxpayers.

I hope that you will join me in making our community a better place to live and play. I am the Park Commissioner candidate to take Milton Parks and Recreation in a new direction. Please email me [email protected] or visit my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MiltonParkCommissioner/. I would appreciate your vote on April 25th!!!