"Thoughts on Town Meeting and Moving Forward" by Mike Marcucci

Medfield MA

10 November, 2021

7:31 PM

Description

OPINION from Selectman Marcucci... I wanted to share a few thoughts on last Sunday's Town Meeting, where things stand now, and where we go from here. How do we move forward? The technical answer is relatively easy. We still have a ballot vote on Monday. Regardless of the outcome, we have the option to revise the proposal and call another Town Meeting to vote on an amended project within the 120-day period. That's what happened with the renovation of the High School, Middle School, and Memorial. The project was voted down (in that case, at the ballot box), it was revised, and passed the second time. We cannot change the location but may be able to take some steps to address other concerns people have raised. For now, we will wait and see the outcome of the election on Monday and I am sure this will be on the top of our agenda at the Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday November 16. Go vote on Monday (6am to 8pm at the Center) and we'll see what happens. But the other aspect of the question is how do we move forward as Town after such a divisive and often toxic debate that seems only to be continuing in its divisiveness? That has come up a lot since Sunday. As some of you may know, I have been off social media almost entirely since January (I am still on Linked In—the Purgatory of social media sites—for professional reasons). I still see enough posts to get a flavor for the nature of our online "dialogue" about this school which has, of course, spilled over into real life at times. And there is always that temptation to go tit for tat, to respond in kind. I succumbed to it myself (and immediately apologized, one of the few that has been offered in this process). I was wrong in that instance and have worked hard not to stoop to that level again. I begin with a plea, especially to those on the "yes" side, not to give into the temptation (or not to give in to it any more) to respond in kind to the types of attacks that have emanated from some members of the opposition over the past year. Please do not take the loudest voices on the other side to be representative of your neighbors who voted "no." A second plea, to everyone, is to please leave the Town Moderator alone. Scott has tried to navigate this process as best he can. No one is going to be 100% happy. I don't agree with all of his decisions. But he's made them in good faith and is trying to do his best to fulfill his important role in this Town. We are lucky to have him. Rather than working the refs, let's focus on winning the game (however you define that). Part of how we move forward relates to how we think of the people on the other side of this issue. Too often, in our national debates, each side picks out the worst of their adversaries to hold up as representative of the whole group. That tendency, I think, has seeped into this local debate. And the Town Meeting was a reminder to me that the loudest voices most interested in standing at the front of the parade or peppering social media with posts are not representative of everyone who disagrees with me on this issue. Focusing so much time on responding to those voices distorts both the debate overall and our perception of those with whom we disagree. Some of it is unavoidable. Those of us in town government have worked hard to respond to every question that comes up, track down information requested, and thus, inevitably, have spent most of our time responding to the people generating those questions. But it still provides a distorted picture. One of the things I have always enjoyed about being involved in local government is that, in a small town, you can move beyond the dynamic of semi-anonymous demonization and have a substantive debate with someone as a complete person. While I might have a terrible opinion about what to do with dogs at the state hospital, at least I was also your son's mediocre baseball coach or I once gave your daughter's basketball team a few extra seconds at the end of game with a slow thumb on the inbounds pass so you can cut me some slack [note to area basketball officials—I have never actually done that, I swear] and have an actual conversation about my terrible opinion and why I hold it. One of the dismaying things to me about this process has been the people I know in real life, with whom I have stood on sidelines or carpooled with who fired away at me and my colleagues on social media but never once reached out to have an actual conversation or a socially-distanced cup of coffee to talk over the issues. I guess it is hard to ask someone in person why they spent hundreds of hours away from their family to join a diabolical conspiracy to poison the water our children will drink or how we fell into the thrall of our Svengali Superintendent. By the way, do people even know what Svengali means anymore? Maybe Rasputin? Anyone? I probably need to start watching Succession to update my references. All of that is a lead-in to saying how much I appreciated seeing a bigger picture of the people who disagree with my judgment about the school I got on Sunday than what I have seen over the past year. In particular, I very much appreciated the comments from Catherine Thorp and Eileen DeSorgher. They spoke about their affection for Dale and the role it plays in the fabric of Medfield's community, what it means to them, and what they want to pass on to their children and future generations by having them attend school in the same place. They spoke about values of community, family, tradition, continuity, about affection for the places and the people thathave shaped their lives and how physical places are important in tying those things together. These are important values—they are mine too—and they are a good reason for a no vote if you believe a "yes" is in contradiction to them. They are values—those of community, tradition, love of town and country—that are sometimes unfashionable but they are real and good. So long as we also welcome new people to enjoy those same goods, that love of our particular communities with all their quirks is worth preserving against so many market forces pulling us toward greater homogenization and centralization. I have no quarrel with the sentiments Catherine and Eileen expressed. I can respect anyone who voted no on the basis they articulated. And I thank them for getting up and saying it. The things they said were good and, whatever the outcome, we should all want to preserve the spirit of Medfield that they so cherish. Indeed, if you look back at the pros and cons summary that Gus Murby prepared around site selection, that sentiment is reflected there as an important "pro" for the Dale site. And it was one of the strongest factors that weighed in favor of the Dale location in my mind. Other considerations won out, for reasons I have articulated (at great length), but that was (and is) the strongest case for Dale Street. I do believe that the children who attend a new school on Elm Street for the next 50-75 years will have the same feeling about that place that Catherine, Eileen, and so many others have for Dale Street. (And, having lived with more than my share of 10-year old kids over the years, I think they can walk downtown from there too). One way or the other, I am happy to work with people of good will who share their values and sentiments to see how we can preserve those aspects of Medfield while improving where we can. If the project ultimately fails because the things that Catherine and Eileen said resonated with enough people, I will disagree with that outcome, but I can live with it, and will work as best as I can to move forward. But I do think, if you vote no on that basis and your side prevails, you should be prepared to support a school that satisfies those values but which comes at a greater cost to taxpayers than the one we are voting on now. It is always tempting to believe that our preferences mean only upside and no downside, but that's not usually the way the world works. Only my preferences have all upside and no downside. If the project fails, however, because people believe it was the product of a conspiracy hatched by a rogue superintendent (wasn't Harvey Keitel in that movie?) or because people have been lead to believe there is a threat to our water or because people think that based on a last minute slide with a pretty picture and some numbers that say we can get the new school of our dreams for 3 easy payments of $39.99 each, it is harder to move forward on a realistic and factual basis. In addition to the comments from Eileen and Catherine, I also very much appreciated the minority, dissenting report from Jillian Raeter of the Warrant Committee. She just joined the committee this summer and was speaking at a Town Meeting for the first time to more than 1800 people. It is not easy to be the lone dissenter in a group of 9. The Warrant Committee members all clearly have respect for each other. We need people willing to do that and while I disagree with her conclusion, I very much appreciated Jillian's remarks and her willingness to make them. I also appreciated the fact that while Jillian disagreed with the majority view, she recognized the good faith of everyone involved, and based her judgment on the same facts found by the whole Warrant Committee rather than developing her own set of facts to make her conclusion seem like the only obvious one and any other the product of pure wickedness or stupidity. Hers was an honorable disagreement and that is how it should be. So that's where we are. I reiterate my plea to keep this respectful online and in person. Treat people the way you want to be treated, and maybe better than some people deserve. This is a serious issue, an important issue, and one about which reasonable people can disagree. But it is still a prudential question. Medfield will be a special place worth living in and raising our families in regardless of the outcome. And we'll need to work together either way. The process may play out for a while longer, and if we want the wounds to heal and tempers to cool when it is done, then we would do well to look for the best in the people we disagree with, and not the worst. As always, please reach out if you'd like to discuss any of this. I am not on Facebook or Twitter, so I won't see your replies there, so you'll need to e-mail me. Finally, my 5-years probation is up and I have a new official Town e-mail address. I can be reached at [email protected]. I still check this one, but I am trying to transition to the town e-mail address to make responding to public records requests easier. Best regards, Mike Marcucci, Medfield Board of Selectmen