Statement Regarding the Special Town Meeting & Announcing my Candidacy for Select Board

On February 2, the Town of Westwood held only the 3rd Special Town Meeting called by Citizens’ Petition in the last 68 years.

My name is Erin Sibley. I wrote and sponsored the Citizens’ Petition, and worked with other residents to call the Special Town Meeting because we had been unable to obtain satisfactory answers to our questions regarding the Select Board’s lawsuit against the Westwood Land Trust and were alarmed by the secrecy and lack of transparency surrounding it.

Our group included longtime residents and relative newcomers, recent college graduates, parents with young families, empty nesters and retirees. We represent all 5 voting precincts and every neighborhood in Westwood. Many of us had never met.

We hoped that a Special - and single issue - Town Meeting would provide an open forum where residents could speak and be heard, where Select Board members could share information and respond to questions, and where public opinion could be accurately measured and communicated.

Together, in only 8 weeks, our group, with the help and support of many neighbors, made the Special Town Meeting a reality.

Residents turned out in such high numbers that the meeting began an hour later than scheduled.

  Following public discussion, a majority of these residents voted to approve all four Warrant Articles we had proposed, including:

“to recommend that the Select Board, Town Counsel, or any duly authorized Town official or employee immediately withdraw, discontinue, and cease further pursuit of the Town’s current lawsuit against the Westwood Land Trust.”

By these measures, the Special Town Meeting was a resounding success.

And yet, in the two weeks since the Special Town Meeting, members of the Select Board have not acknowledged these votes or given any indication that they intend to follow them.

They chose not to put the Special Town Meeting, or the votes taken, on the agenda for either of their two regularly scheduled meetings, held virtually on February 3 and February 11.

Instead, the Select Board Chair - Robert Gotti - resigned his position, while the two remaining Select Board members - Marianne Leblanc Cummings and Joe Previtera - apparently continue to pursue the lawsuit, despite knowing that the majority of Westwood residents who voted at the Special Town Meeting do not support it.

I have decided to run for Select Board because I believe Westwood residents deserve better.

My nomination papers have been certified and my name will appear on the ballot as a candidate to fulfill the remaining one year of the term of the recently resigned Chair.

Westwood is a community of about 16,000 residents in just under 11 square miles. We are small enough to still hold Town Meetings which every registered voter is entitled to attend.

I don’t think that we should have had to resort to a Citizens’ Petition to communicate with our elected officials.

Nevertheless, I think it’s reasonable to expect that they will listen when residents tell them - clearly - what we do and do not want.

I believe I have the skills and temperament to be an effective Select Board member and to serve with purpose and integrity. I will work to bring our community together and build a Westwood which is better for all of us.

Most importantly, I will listen.

I am an attorney and longtime (20 years) Westwood resident. I practiced tax law for ten years before stepping away to raise our family. Some residents might know me through my service to St. John’s Episcopal Church or the Parent Teacher Associations of the Deerfield and Thurston Schools. Our family has also participated in girl scouts, boy’s basketball, and youth field hockey.

Until recently, like many residents, I preferred to remain an outside observer of town politics.

We can be forgiven for checking out of a system which has limited our access to important information and excluded us from decision making processes. But I have come to believe that our participation is essential if we want an effective government whose decisions and policies serve our collective best interests.

Something has to change.

First, we need to know what’s happening.

I believe that public officials have an obligation to proactively share important information with us. It is nearly impossible to find out what is going on in our local town politics. We must be able to trust that if an important issue requires our attention, our public officials will publicly raise it.

I believe that public officials should reach decisions affecting the public in open, in person meetings, subject to extremely limited exceptions. Public disclosure, scrutiny, and discussion should be the rule, not the exception.

Second, we need to know that our voices matter.

I believe that public officials should treat residents, other town boards and committees, local businesses, philanthropists, and nonprofits as allies or partners, not adversaries.

I believe that public officials should pursue every available opportunity to include and collaborate with these stakeholders at every stage of their decision making processes. We must know that our time, energy, and ideas are important and that our contributions will not be ignored.

Finally, I believe that public officials must do the painstaking work of building consensus among these stakeholders, including those holding minority opinions, in order to leverage expertise, balance competing interests, find common ground, and arrive at an end result which serves our collective best interests. This is an essential process which must be followed in making every significant public decision. I do not support public officials who make decisions based on their own personal judgments instead of following it.

If you agree, I ask that you please support my candidacy and plan to vote on April 28.

I also ask that other residents please consider running for open positions.

There are currently 2 open seats on the School Committee and 2 incumbents - Select Board and Town Moderator - running unopposed. The deadline for obtaining nomination papers for these positions is Friday, March 6.

This is an important moment in Westwood.

I believe there is an appetite and opportunity for real change in how things get done here, but one person cannot do it alone.

We need more people who care to get off the sidelines and onto the playing field.

I look forward to spending the upcoming weeks meeting with, and listening to, as many residents as possible and learning what you care about. I welcome the opportunity to let you get to know me as well.

I am excited about the possibilities of what we can achieve by working with, and not against, each other.

Thank you for considering my candidacy and for voting in our Town Elections on Tuesday, April 28.