Ron Ricci. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Every year things get worse in terms of raising taxes and cutting services, selectman candidate Ron Ricci said, so the town needs to do something different. He said two starting points would be to follow Acton’s lead and work toward increasing Harvard’s share of Chapter 70 school funds that the state gives back to towns, and to figure out how to maximize revenue from the town’s commercially zoned areas. He said he is open to the possibility that a yet-to-be-determined resolution of the Devens question might yield more revenue opportunities for Harvard. He also favors working with Representative Jamie Eldridge, Senator Pam Resor, and other towns in similar straits to rectify some of the inequities of the system.

 The town’s finances and the state’s affordable housing requirement are intertwined, he said, and he favors housing for the over-55 and elderly age groups, which would not drive the need for another school and additional town services like the proposed 140-home Harvard Village development would. He favors preserving the rural character of the town and protecting the open space that we have by using Community Preservation funds wisely. He said the town must look at new ideas and suggested that MGL Chapter 61, Classification and Taxation of Forest Lands, would offer a grace period to give the town the opportunity to protect land as it is removed from Chapter 61 protection.

Ricci worked with Mort Miller of Westcott Road and Tony Marolda of Jacob Gates Road to draft a letter for the selectmen to send Resor and Eldridge recommending modifications to Chapter 40B for towns like Harvard. Their suggestions include a strict limit on the number of new units allowed that is more in keeping with normal development of the town.

Regarding the $650,000 override that is part of the fiscal year 2008 omnibus budget, Ricci said, “It’s not pleasant, but it’s necessary.” The School Committee hasn’t made a strong case for the additional $113,500 it is requesting in the second override Ricci said, and a lot of people are upset about the $650,000, which Ricci thinks could be in jeopardy at the polls. Ricci supports the call for an independent audit of special education spending to restore confidence in the system and possibly identify improvements that could be made. Either way the kids win, he said.

Not having children attending the Harvard schools currently, Ricci was reluctant to comment on whether the quality of education is slipping, He noted that former Superintendent of Schools Mihran Keoseian was a “tough act to follow” because he really “turned around the school” and fostered a culture of excellence.

The “divide in the Board of Selectmen” makes it difficult for them to lead the town, Ricci said, adding that he could work well with any of the current selectmen. He believes the divide needs to be eliminated. The issues that will determine the outcome of the election are town finances, the tax situation, and the threat of large-scale development—townspeople living near the proposed Harvard Village, for example, feel that the town isn’t sticking up for them, Ricci said.

Among town center issues, for Ricci, two are tied for first place: a realistic use for the soon-to-be-vacated library building and septic concerns. “The town deserves a more rapid response on the old library,” according to Ricci, who recalled former Town Administrator Paul Cohen’s suggestion of moving the town offices to the old library building, using Town Hall as a community center, and perhaps selling the Hildreth House.

Ricci is not sure that a huge town center septic system would be in the best interest of the town, he said. Many town center residents have already upgraded their septic systems—every house with a “for sale” sign has an approved Title 5 system, he believes. Identifying the scope of needs and starting with what the town already has is Ricci’s approach. He thinks that new septic-system technology, specifically Presby technology, could be a reasonable solution to the actual needs of the town. He said that he sees town center septic needs as an expense that would be shared by public and private interests. “People who have already complied with Title 5 shouldn’t be required to tie in,” he said.

Ricci, who was the chairman of Residents for 2B, the Devens disposition proposal that was defeated at the polls, believes that a workable solution to the Devens question will “satisfy the general desires of all major groups—everyone has to get a good deal,” he said. He favors keeping Devens together as a community and believes that making Devens residents “junior partners on the other side of town isn’t fair.” Ricci also said that “questions were not properly allayed” about environmental issues on Barnum Road. He believes that the Joint Boards of Selectmen, which is currently addressing the Devens issues, needs a charter and a time frame.

Ricci decided to enter the selectmen’s race in January, he said, after people had been encouraging him to run for more than a year. He served as a water commissioner and is an elected member of the Community Preservation Committee.