John Waterman gathered local press on January 21 to announce he will not run for reelection to the Marion Select Board, but in disseminating that news, he distributed a one-page outline of critical matters that his successor will try to help the town address.
Waterman also used the occasion to endorse Dr. Edward Hoffer for the seat he will vacate on May 13, Marion’s election day. His final Select Board meeting will be on May 17.
“I want my life back,” said Waterman, stressing his four years serving as a “fulfilling experience,” along with appreciation for the positive feedback he has received around town.
In addition to biweekly Select Board meetings and quarterly Water/Sewer Commission meetings, it has been a regular practice of Waterman’s to sit in on other boards’ and committees’ meetings as his schedule allows. Select Board Chair Norm Hills and former Chair Randy Parker similarly spread their wings and are members of other boards.
With a background in finance and a keen eye on Marion’s infrastructural challenges, Waterman has been banging the drum for market-rate housing that would allow residents to age in place and at the same time increase the number of water/sewer rate payers.
This is where the rubber of the Hoffer endorsement meets Waterman’s road. A few years back, Hoffer worked on a survey that revealed senior citizens’ grave concern over the cost of living in their current homes as they advance in age. In 2017, senior housing was identified as a Master Plan priority.
“We had hoped our survey would be done online, but all but three put it on paper and mailed it, which meant that I read every single one,” said Hoffer. “The comment that I heard over and over again was, ‘I’ve lived here all my life, I’ve raised my kids here, I go to church here … my friends are here. I don’t want to leave Marion, but I can no longer afford or retain my huge house.’”
Pending the Planning Board’s decision on whether to vote the article back onto the 2022 Town Meeting warrant, Waterman is pushing for the potential revote on the Zoning change along Route 6 at the Weweantic River that lost at 2021 Town Meeting.
Developer Matt Zuker sought a change to Residence E (multifamily) so he could build a 48-unit development called The Cottages.
“You could put up mega mansions on a two-and-a-half-acre lot, but what the Master Plan calls for and what people want is housing that would not be restricted to seniors but be targeted to seniors,” said Waterman.
The 34-34 split on the zoning question last year fell significantly short of the two-thirds required to pass, but Hoffer is also alarmed by the low turnout.
“That meant 68 people decided this critical issue, which is 1½ percent of our registered voters. Something terribly important to the town, and we have 4,400 voters and 68 people made that decision,” he said. “One of the big problems in town, we are large single-family homes, which are terrific for raising kids, not so terrific when you’re an older couple or a widow/widower and don’t want to leave Marion and look around and find there’s not a whole lot of choices.”
“That’s why I was so disappointed that the project down by the Weweantic failed to pass. That’s exactly what Marion needs.”
While Waterman is focused on the two major municipal construction projects headed to Town Meeting warrant, the new Maritime Center and Department of Public Works headquarters, Hoffer has his eye on Tabor Academy.
“A great many people have a very negative feeling about Tabor, and it’s quite understandable,” he said. “Tabor has got a sort of parasitic relationship with Marion. They use our police, our fire, our public health and they give very little back to the town. … We’d like to see them make payments in lieu of taxes. I could see them do more with their facilities to make them more accessible to town residents.”
Hoffer identified the Lockheed Martin property as important to the town while also considering three, year-round, full-time employees in the harbormaster’s office “overkill.”
He would also like to see Cumberland Farms and the town reach a solution for the property owned by the convenience chain directly across Route 6. “I think we need to put pressure on them to make it into something beneficial to the town and not just a white elephant,” he said.
After 18 years commuting from Marion to Massachusetts General Hospital, the 78-year-old, semiretired cardiologist assists MGH in diagnosis and has more time for public office. In 2018, he wrote a book, “Prescription for Bankruptcy: A doctor’s perspective on America’s failing health care system and how we can fix it” (Omni Press.)
Encouraged to run for a seat on the Board of Health, Hoffer joined in time to play a key role in guiding the town through the coronavirus pandemic. When the board reorganized, he took over the chairperson’s duties from Dr. John Howard, a fellow practicing physician on the three-person board along with scientist and vice-chairperson Dot Brown. Hoffer also sits on the Zoning Board of Appeals.
“I love Marion, I expect to die in Marion, and I have the time to give to the town,” he said.
Should he win a seat on the Select Board, Hoffer says he will give up his ZBA seat and relinquish the chair but remain on the Board of Health.
Waterman has an idea to generate more participation in town government.
“It would be nice if every house in town that had their voting residence here made a commitment for at least one person in that household to serve at least three years on a committee because we really need people to step up and help us run the town,” he said. “You need new blood, just fresh ideas and fresh energy.”
Another point of participation that Waterman finds wanting in Marion is Town Meeting (Monday, May 9.) The town recently began holding a prelude meeting a week to 10 days prior to, in which residents are invited to pour over the warrant in a group setting and ask questions. Waterman sees great value in the preliminary meeting and urges citizens to attend.
Nomination papers will not become available to candidates for elected offices in Marion until February 1. The Wanderer reached out to other rumored Select Board candidates for comment without result.
By Mick Colageo