MacDonald Goes for Selectmen Re-Election, Proud of 'Smart Growth' With Legacy Place

After a year with the Avery Oak gavel resting in her hand, selectman Sarah MacDonald is ready for another run at the board she was elected to as a political newbie three years ago.

The chairmanship position gave the 31-year-old a new look at the inner workings of the Board of Selectmen. Never before did she understand the work it took to put together the agenda and the packets of information each selectman receives for the bi-weekly meetings.

“It has been very eye-opening for me,” she said.

Through her three years serving on the board, MacDonald said she’s helped push “smart growth” in Dedham that brings in commercial tax dollars – like the project – and at the s of the project on Dedham Square.

“I think we have been able to make sure the biggest project this town has seen in the recent past is successful. We are managing traffic, we are managing the police impact,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald also has an eye on what infrastructure projects the town needs next.

“I think the discussion around police and fire and the senior center are going to happen parallel,” she said.

The projects will take different tracks, however, she said. While and will hear responses about the town’s desires, public safety doesn’t have a built-in constituency to survey or to call for a new building.

“We all want them to show up at our house, we don’t necessarily care about what they go back to,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald wants Dedham to research again the possibility of a joint public safety campus, but understood that the town might lack the available land for such a project.

Despite the newly created local meals and hotels tax that the town could use toward major capital projects like a new police station, MacDonald said the residents and business owners face the reality of the economic situation and probably .

“We will not push our infrastructure needs and our liabilities into the future, which has happened in this town for decades,” MacDonald said. “Do I think we can slow the increase by getting creative? Absolutely.”

Since MacDonald took office in 2008, the Board of Selectmen have raised residential taxes from 12.62 percent to 14.37 percent, and bumped commercial from 26.43 percent to 31.06 percent.

“There is a cost for keeping this stuff going,” she said. “I think, philosophically, this is a board that doesn’t just punt down the road.”

Moving forward, MacDonald wants to rezone East Dedham, and research if the town would benefit in joining a statewide health insurance group to keep costs down.

“There is a potential to save money on health insurance benefits, not just on current employees, but on retired,” she said.

Currently, Dedham is the West Suburban Health Group with other towns, and Town Administrator William Keegan often credits it for controlling the town’s health costs.

During the month left in the campaign season, MacDonald will borrow a page from the board’s playbook and hold neighborhood meetings with constituents leading up to Election Day on April 9.

“The other avenues [direct mailings] are noise at this point to a lot of people,” she said, but added that she would still send out the traditional leaflets to potential voters.

“I really want to make sure that people have a choice. I want them to at least have a chance to hear what I have to say.”