As elections near, Marblehead candidates get dreamy

Jun. 8—MARBLEHEAD — Town Moderator candidate Matt Wolverton would bring visitors to Fountain Park, where he proposed to his wife. Sarah Fox, his wife, would go to Fort Beach.

"For those of us who just joined us, we're not actually on the Newly Wed Game. We're still at our campaign conversations," laughed Jeanne Lambkin, a member of PowerUp! 01945's steering committee. "We truly have learned a little bit about the Wolverton and Fox household... I'll say nothing more."

Democracy can't really get any more polite than this.

PowerUp! 01945, a local voting advocacy organization formed out of energy from recent annual election cycles, held two nights of "candidate conversations" targeting five of the contested races on this year's municipal election ballot. Monday night saw coverage of the town's Light Commission and Select Board races, while Tuesday saw candidates in the races for Moderator, Board of Health and School Committee.

Voters will hit the polls Tuesday, June 21. They'll either affirm or reject two Proposition 2 1/2 tax overrides and vote on a healthy wave of contested election races: a seven-way race for the five-member Select Board, three candidates for two School Committee seats, and races on the Board of Health, Cemetery and Light commissions, and a two-way contest for moderator.

Though those races haven't been entirely polite up to this point, the PowerUp! "conversations" (in lieu of a debate or forum) solicited the candidates to share their favorite location around town, what their vision for a perfect Marblehead is, and how they would use their role if elected to achieve that vision. Each race also fielded questions pertaining to their specific contest.

Of the seven Select Board candidates, only three were in attendance: challenger Bret Murray and incumbents Erin Noonan and Alexa Singer. Murray pushed for Marblehead to form a statement of values and strategic plan for growth.

"If you go to the town website and look at how the town operates, there's a lot of great reports, lots of great information and lots of great starts, but there's nothing really cohesive that brings it all together and says, 'this is where we are now, and this is where we want to go,'" Murray said. "Right now, we're kind of a rudderless ship. We need to know where we're going."

Noonan prepared a statement outlining her vision, and when asked how she'd execute the vision, she added that she thinks of "myself as an overpreparer. I like to take in all of the views of different people and perspectives, and synthesize that."

"And as Bret had spoken to about strategic planning, I totally agree," Noonan said. "There's so much even short-term planning we could do. I think our Select Board should really be putting out — annually, in August — town-wide goals and establishing priorities for the next year, maybe two years even."

Singer's vision for Marblehead tied in the need for "smart actions that address our current and future challenges. We need to embrace what our history is of our town, but be open and willing to explore the new opportunities that will and have to present themselves as we keep moving into the future."

"You're looking at the vision that comes before you, making decisions based on facts, based on data, and taking that information you're getting from citizens, being presented from so many different ways... and taking that to execute that vision," Singer said, "and turn those things around."

On night two, Sarah Fox, a School Committee incumbent, said she wanted to see Marblehead "get to a place where the presentation of new ideas isn't seen as an affront to our rich history."

"I really envision a community where questions and constructive feedback are welcomed as a pathway to improvement rather than labeled as destructive," she said. "If we can strike a balance between the need for innovation and carrying on traditions that are working, we'd be able to create a really wonderful legacy for Marblehead's future generations."

Alison Taylor, a challenger for School Committee, said she wants Marblehead to "lead by example. We need to ask the difficult questions, have the difficult conversations."

But recognizing the humanity of everyone you debate is key. After all, "we need to understand we're coming from a place of good," Taylor said. "When someone asks a question or asks for detail or backup or proof... whatever phrase you want to coin, it's coming from a place of good."

Several candidates in each race weren't able to attend: On the Select Board, Jackie Belf-Becker, James Full, Moses Grader, and James Nye; on School Committee, Reece Dahlberg.

Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.