LYNNFIELD — The race for a seat on the Select Board pits incumbent Chair Richard Dalton against challenger Robert Gillon in the town’s annual election on April 12.
Dalton is in his sixth year on the board. He previously served on the Planning Board for 15 years.
“I’m working with two other board members who are very much committed. We get along, we are professional, but we don’t always agree,” said Dalton. “All of us are just interested in doing the best we can for the town.”
Dalton grew up in East Boston and has lived in Lynnfield for about 35 years. He has been a C-level executive at a restaurant company called the Western Group for the majority of his career. The company had about 3,500 employees, five different restaurant concepts and spanned from New Hampshire to Florida.
Among the achievements of the Select Board, Dalton is most proud of the elementary-school building project, saying “both schools are under budget.”
He is proud of appointing new Police Chief Nick Secatore, who came up the ranks internally, as well as the town’s efforts to successfully protect the 20-acre Richardson Green property from development, Dalton said, as it not only preserves the green space but protects the town’s water supply.
Dalton also emphasized putting together a process for public input on the distribution of federal funding, $5 million worth of improvements to the town’s buildings and restoration of the historic district.
“We have a very innovative program that basically pays for itself through savings and energy efficiency and a side effect of that,” said Dalton.
In the next term, Dalton would like to move forward on a proposed public-safety facility that will be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant and more adequately serve both male and female employees.
“A business philosophy of mine is you look for continuous improvement,” said Dalton.
Dalton is pleased with the role his family has played in the Think of Michael Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization founded to fight substance-use disorder following the death of Dalton’s son, Michael, from an opiate overdose in 2018.
He feels he can still contribute to the community’s well-being and that convinces him to run for reelection.
“I enjoy serving the community,” said Dalton. “This community means a lot, not only to me, but to my family.”
Gillon said in a statement to The Item that he lived in Lynnfield in his early childhood and attended South School through third grade, when the family moved out of state. He returned to Massachusetts to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he graduated with a degree in business administration.
A corporate accountant, Gillon has worked for private government defense contractors. He currently works for a Waltham-based, environmental-engineering firm as a finance manager.
Gillon is the treasurer of the town’s Historical Society, while his wife, Linda, is president of the society.
In recent years, the society’s financial standing and its failure to make mandatory state and federal filings came under scrutiny within the town. The town was questioning its standing with the Attorney General’s office (AGO), the Secretary of State and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It was discovered that under the Gillons’ leadership, the Historical Society lost its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in 2011.
In 2021, the town severed all ties with the society, which had managed the Meeting House and the Pope-Richard Historical Family Center, after town leaders learned there was no legal relationship between the town and the society that would allow the society to serve any role with these properties.
“While it is true that the society had its 501(c)(3) status revoked by the IRS in 2012 and the organization was not properly registered with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, the 501(c)(3) reinstatement had been a work in process and the AGO’s registration was immediately addressed when this issue was presented to the society. Filings for both were submitted in March 2021 during government COVID shutdowns and resolved within six months,” said Gillon.
Gillon questioned in his statement the Select Board’s decision to remove the Meeting House from the care of the Historical Society, saying that now taxpayers are going to pay to maintain the building.
Gillon said he wants to see more transparency and accountability with the Select Board’s decisions.
“There have been several instances over the past year where citizens have been shut down at a Select Board meeting and not allowed to speak on matters of the meeting,” Gillon said.
He said Select Board members are not responsive to requests to meet with residents either.
“It is time for change, and I seek the public’s vote to initiate that change,” Gillon said.
