Dear editor and Reading voters:
It would be impossible in a letter of readable length to convey what a workhorse Chris Haley has been for the town of Reading, both as a Select Board member and in his private life. In this LTE, I just want to tout a few specific examples of the kinds of things Chris Haley has done, day in and day out, over the past 3 years.
MOST RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENT – SAVED TAXPAYERS OVER $30K ON SCHOOLS WEBSITE
At the February 29, 2024 school committee meeting, Reading Public Schools superintendent Dr. Milaschewski announced the Killam school project website, created to help educate the town about the project, provide quick access to documents, images, videos, and meeting minutes for the project, and to help keep the community informed about the project. He thanked various Killam project personnel, including school building committee chair Carla Nazzaro and RPS admin Olivia Lejeune, for their help in envisioning the website. But, he also said something surprising to me – he thanked Chris Haley.
I have known Chris very well for over three years, and he is super busy with Select Board duties, chairing the Charter Review Committee, running his business, being a citizen journalist/publisher of the Reading Recap, being a husband and father, and lately, of course – running his campaign. What did he have time to do for the schools, too? Dr. Milaschewski explained further:
“We did allocate a significant amount of funds towards the potential of having a website. As we looked at quotes from outside vendors, it was between 28 to 35 thousand dollars for a company….getting a website up and running, which all of us just didn’t think was a great use of taxpayer funds to be going to that. So, we didn’t just have a great solution other than that, so thanks to Chris for stepping up and filling that void.”
See Reading Post story on this website here (https://thereadingpost.com/2024/03/04/killam-building-project-launches-website/ ). Chris created this website for the schools on his own time, for free, saving the schools/town and Reading taxpayer an estimated $28k-$35k. All while keeping up with all his other duties.
Chris told no one about this other than those for whom he did this free work. He did not do this as a Select Board member, but as a parent volunteer who saw a need and helped fill it. Chris did not boast about it in any of his campaign literature as “school experience.” Chris did not even tell many of his supporters or friends, like me. He just stepped up, saw a way to save the town money, and got the work done – on time, on target, and without complaint.
That is how Chris rolls. This kind of action is not unlike what he has been doing for the Reading Select Board for the past three years, showing up to every single board meeting for which he is a member, never missing a single meeting, never being late, never being unprepared, and always going the extra mile for Reading and its residents – often revealing after the fact what he has gotten done.
JUST A FEW OF CHRIS HALEY’S MANY ACCOMPLISHMENTS WHILE ON THE READING SELECT BOARD:
- Supported a modest increase in the split tax rate, going from a 1.05 split to a 1.1 split to better balance the portion of the tax rate that is split between the 93% residential tax base and 7% commercial tax base. This helped avoid the extreme and maximum legally allowable 1.5 split option advocated by Mr. Dockser and Ms. Herrick (a larger split that is also supported by Chris’ opponent) wherein business taxes (including for our smallest businesses) would have to go up by 43% to reduce residential taxes, at most, by 3%.
- Helped get 16 parking regulations changed to help residents and businesses, including doubling employee parking spots, adding overnight Depot parking for residents, and approving a parking garage feasibility study.
- As a member of the ARPA allocation subcommittee, advocated for multiple expenditures to benefit the broadest swath of our community from the $7.5 million ARPA grant, including:
- $2 million – new school literacy curriculum
- $1.5 million -Birch Meadow Phase 1
- $900k – Elder Services and senior center feasibility study
- $900k-essential town/school worker premium pay
- $96k – adaptive swim program at YMCA
- $74.2k – Food Pantry
- Requested that the town implement the now-available construction tracker on its website, to help residents understand where road construction and other construction in town is taking place.
- Has regularly and repeatedly stood for the interests of ALL residents in Reading’s annual water rate discussions and pushed for the Select Board to revisit the tiers of water rates that were implemented in 2023 (which he did not support), because of how they unfairly impact larger households as well as multi-unit buildings, including many housing developments with seniors (e.g., assisted living).
- Championed alternative ideas for compliance with MBTA communities to town staff to help minimize neighborhood impacts and was instrumental in helping to pause the initial proposals to enable further revision in view of community concerns.
- Devised a negotiating strategy with former town manager Fidel Maltez to implement an agreement with a supplier of a new fire truck for Reading. This suppler was imposing a significant cost increase on the deliverable without any benefit to Reading. Chris’s strategy helped result in added benefits for Reading, including an extended warranty, to mitigate impacts of the unavoidable cost increase.
Chris Haley always stands for fairness, transparency, equity to all residents, and using taxpayer dollars effectively. His record speaks for itself.
I hope you will join me in re-electing Chris Haley to the Reading Select Board!
Marianne McLaughin-Downing
13 Heather Drive
Town Meeting Member 2015-present – Precinct 4 (up for re-election, too – please support me!)
Finance Committee member, 2020-present
