SWAMPSCOTT — The issue of transparency was the topic of conversation among both the candidates for the Select Board and Housing Authority during Thursday night’s debate at the high school.
And while housing was obviously a concern among the two candidates for the Housing Authority — Charles Patsios and Sean Regan — the issue seeped over into the debate among the three Select Board candidates — Catherine L. Phelan, MaryEllen Fletcher and Kimberly Laura Martin-Epstein.
On the issue of transparency, “no one wants to be the last to know anything,” said Phelan.
“There’s a suspicion sometimes that bits of things get decided in the public forum but that some bits are decided elsewhere,” said Martin-Epstein. “And if it’s agreeable, you start asking yourself whether the end justifies the means. But never, ever, do the ends justify the means.”
Earlier in the evening, Patsios, a developer, and Regan, an attorney, debated the same issue, stemming from the fact that the Authority was behind on posting minutes to past meetings. Regan was adamant that before anything else is done, the Authority must get up to date on this administrative detail.
“We can’t do anything until we get this straightened out,” he said.
Patsios, on the other hand, said he couldn’t speak to what went on prior to his involvement with the board, but that “it would seem to me we can give the board a little grace period, and that we can do both.”
He said one thing he’d definitely do, if the situation arose to respond to public-funding requests, would be to seek help from other communities.
“I’ve talked to (Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development) Director Charlie Gaeta in Lynn,” said Patsios. “The success the City of Lynn has had (in development) is a good example to follow.”
On the issue of housing, opinion was split on Chapter 40B projects, such as the proposed Elm Street development.
“I’m not for it,” said Fletcher. “Good idea, wrong spot. That will cause major problems to people who have to drive down that street every day.”
Regan, too, said he was opposed.
“It seems it’s just a way for developers to get in there and bypass local regulations,” he said.
On the other hand, Phelan said, “40B is here. It is necessary.”
Said Patsios: “There are a lot of people in town who are waiting for housing that they qualify for.”
However, when it comes to affordable housing, Martin-Epstein said the problem goes a lot deeper than specific projects. It is more an issue of how the town came to be in a situation where it was under the gun to conform to affordable-housing regulations.
“I don’t have the time now,” she said, in reference to the limited amount of time candidates were given to state their views (a limit that was strictly enforced), “but someday, I’d love to get into discussion about how and why the town got into this situation. Because I don’t think people understand.”
Regan addressed his relative newness in the town.
“I may not have been here for the last 30 years,” he said, “but I’m going to be living here for the next 30.”
Select Board candidates also talked about public demonstrations (with Fletcher, a former U.S. Olympic field-hockey player who trained in Europe “where nobody had any rights,”) said “when I see these things, all I can think of is ‘thank God people have these rights here.'”
Also, open-space advocate Phelan, in a discussion about the rail trail, said that “there’s already a part of it that’s done, and it’s lovely.
“We are looking to connect Swampscott with all communities,” she said. “And it goes through areas where it’ll help facilitate children walking to the new school.”
Also discussed was the new school, where Phelan put both Martin-Epsetein and Fletcher on the spot regarding their votes. Fletcher said she voted against it initially, feeling that the school, as it was proposed, was too big. However, she said, she fought for funding.
Martin-Epstein said that she voted for it.
The town election is April 26.
