Scott Kimball. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Scott Kimball is running for a second term on the Board of Selectmen. He said he enjoys helping people “if and when I can” and wants to be accessible to townspeople and to “give voice to their concerns.” He also wants to see more people involved who don’t normally participate in town government. He likes the “how can we help you with your problem” approach to dealing with townspeople and thinks that the “selectmen should try to listen to everybody.”

Kimball does not support the Proposition 2½ overrides to provide additional funds to the schools. “I’m not against everything, but we need to be responsible and just say ‘no,’ ” he said, adding, “Zero-based budgeting is unheard of here.”

Kimball’s top priority is getting the budget in order so that annual overrides are unnecessary. He believes that “we can manage ourselves better” and that the selectmen let fiscal responsibility go when they focused too much and too long on Devens issues. “We need to pay more attention to Harvard,” he said. Although he agrees that “Harvard doesn’t get its fair share from Boston,” he said he doesn’t believe that Chapter 70 funding is an answer. He thinks developing a commercial base is a necessary component of balancing the budget.

Kimball said he needs more information before taking a position on Article 10, the proposed purchase of a $140,000 multi-purpose truck by the Department of Public Works, which would be funded by a capital exclusion. While he is “all for multipurpose” and understands the difficulty of fixing and finding parts for older vehicles, he said he wonders if the current system could be more efficient. Because town trucks are used primarily during snowstorms, Kimball suggested that the town get bids and contract out plowing routes 110 and 111, letting DPW do the side roads. “Small things add up,” Kimball said.

Kimball favors Article 17, the citizens’ petition that proposes an independent audit of special education expenditures. Special education “ties up so much money,” Kimball said, “I really want to guarantee it’s being spent right.” Such an audit would “relieve a lot of tension” and friction, even if it identified some waste, Kimball said.

The schools are among Kimball’s top three priorities. He said that most of the school budget goes to either special education or salaries. He blames the administration for the high cost to the town of salaries, stipends, and health insurance, and he believes that townspeople in the private sector are feeling resentful. “It’s not a lean, mean budget,” he said. Kimball is concerned about the quality of the schools in general, as well as that a significant number of fourth-grade students scored in the “needs improvement” category of the recent MCAS math test, and a few even failed.

Kimball views 40B developments as a means to create affordable housing as a threat to neighborhoods, and he said he hasn’t yet seen the value in any of them proposed for Harvard. He said he has a “hard time with how the 40B ad hoc committees are formed” and believes that the selectmen should appoint abutters to serve on the committees. He wants Harvard to be seen as “anti-40B” until the town decides how it wants to proceed with affordable housing. While he agrees that the state will eventually amend parts of 40B, he doesn’t think it will happen in time. The town should “delay and stall until help arrives,” he concludes. It’s inevitable that we will lose some, Kimball continued, but he recommended that the town “fight to the end” to protect its integrity. “It’s why people live in Harvard,” he said.

Kimball describes the town center as a second-tier priority for him. “Nothing happens here without septic and the timing isn’t right,” he said. “I love the town center,” Kimball continued, calling it a jewel.

Kimball supported “Scenario 2B,” which, had it passed, would have created the town of Devens, but said he “won’t stand in the way of a better deal.” He believes what happens to Devens is a regional issue and doesn’t think that MassDevelopment or the Devens Enterprise Commission need to be excluded from the decision-making process; he supports the inclusion of the Devens Committee as an equal partner in the process.