Letter to the Editor: Little Proved Candidacy for Mayor at Forum

Letter to the editor,

I attended last week's Lakeville Mayoral forum. Like many of you, I’ve been reading news stories about the spirited council debates for the past two years, but hadn’t seen the differences firsthand.

Council Member Laurie Rieb won additional respect from me tonight, and replacing Mayor Mark Bellows with her would be a considerable upgrade.

However, the most organized, mature, and professional candidate of the evening was Council Member Matt Little. While all three candidates had standard trifold campaign brochures set out on the chairs, Little also provided a 17 page policy document on how Lakeville can continue to thrive while keeping a lid on property taxes. (This policy document is available online.)

All evening long, Little peppered his responses with concrete examples of conserving taxpayer dollars while improving services. He paired past successes with solid ideas on how to work with neighboring communities—and create public-private partnerships—to keep Lakeville the place where we all want to raise our families.

Bellows would have you believe he is the conservative candidate on the ballot, but didn’t provide examples of how he has saved us money or how he will save us money. From my viewpoint, Bellows spent $25,000 on a study to do basic math about our liquor operations, he wants to spend $60,000 on consultants to find out about what I want from my city, and he cost the taxpayers money by wrongly accusing a staff of lying. A closed door council session exonerated the employee, but Bellows still stubbornly refused to apologize. None of that is conservative in my mind.

In contrast, Little offered a short and long term plan to pay down debt, a plan so that the average homeowner in Lakeville will see a real dollar decrease in their 2013 taxes, and a Four Point Plan to create jobs in Lakeville. Little was specific, referenced the policy document, and was respectful and positive the whole evening.

From Bellows opening and closing statements alone, it’s easy to see why there has been so much animosity on the council this past term. Frankly, we don’t need that kind of discourse at any level, but especially in what’s supposed to be a nonpartisan election. I urge you to watch the rebroadcast on local cable, or here on Patch if they have it, and make up your own mind.

Little clearly sees technology, common sense and thinking outside the box as ways to trim fat while improving our roads, parks and public safety. 

Seldom do voters have such a clear choice in a municipal election. We can simply settle for a prune and stagnate approach, or innovate and grow better on a leaner budget.

I choose innovation and Little.

Chuck Smith-Dewey, Lakeville