[EDITOR’S NOTE: To help promote this year’s Town Elections, Abington News will print candidacy announcements. If interested, please email your candidacy announcement to AbingtonNews.org. We will not edit the announcements, but reserve the right to request changes.]
Over the past three years I have had the privilege of serving the residents of Abington on the Board of Selectmen. It is with great pride and honor; I today formally announce my intention to seek re-election in this April’s town elections.
In March of 2018 I ran for a seat on the Board of Selectmen hoping to bring change and new ideas to the town in which I was born and raised. It was at this time I outlined what ideas and changes I could bring to the board if elected. While running for election some of the issues facing the town that I wanted to address were:
- Improve Town Hall Communication
- Finalize a Patrolman’s Contract that was expired for 3 years
- Implement No Tuition Full Day Kindergarten
- Improve Police Department Turnover
- Address the Senior Housing Shortage
Over the past three years I have worked tirelessly on these, and many other issues, to make the town of Abington a better community. Although accomplishing these goals came with challenges (many foreseen, some not) I am proud each one of these issues is better off today than 3 years ago.
During the past couple years we made the difficult decision to move on to a new Town Manager. While it wasn’t exactly a seamless transition, (making the move during a budget season, and at the start of a global pandemic) the communication coming from Town Hall to not only members of the Board of Selectmen and other town boards, but to the residents at large has improved immensely. Instead of one person making the decisions, I have seen a real group effort over the past year.
In the past three years we have worked on and finalized two patrolman contracts. While the patrolman worked many years without a contract, there has been some catching up to do, but we have begun negotiations on another contract that will keep us up to date into the future.
We placed on Town Meeting Warrant, and received funding for, an Operational Study to help improve relations, and overall efficiency within the Police Department. With the ongoing implementation of the study, and our decision to enter into a separation agreement with the Chief of Police, we have seen the turnover at the Police Department drastically reduce. We look forward to watching this department continue to make Abington residence proud for years to come.
The implementation of no tuition, full day Kindergarten was a true team effort on behalf of many people in town. The School Committee, Finance Committee, Town Manager, and Board of Selectmen, have all worked hard, not only implementing, but assuring no tuition full day Kindergarten is sustainable in the budget for years to come. This is a yearly ongoing effort, but has received the proper attention from all involved.
Lastly, and arguably the most important, there is still a shortage of senior housing in the town of Abington. Although we have not seen the progress I had hoped for, there may be light on the horizon. Recently, the Board of Selectmen appointed a Affordable Housing Committee to oversee the recently implemented Affordable Housing Trust, in the hopes of finding public/private partnerships to build more affordable housing in the town of Abington, specifically senior housing.
I am very proud of the many accomplishments made by the Board of Selectmen over the past three years. None of this would have happened without the hard work of the people I have had the privilege to serve with.
Our town has seen a lot of changes for the better recently, but most importantly we still have work to do. That is why I will be humbly asking to receive one of your two votes to continue serving on the Board of Selectmen on April 24th.
Tim Chapin