Lucy Wallace. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Lucy Wallace, a 30-year Harvard resident, is running for another term on the Board of Selectmen “for lots of reasons,” she told the Press, including being at a place in her life where she can give time and “give back to the town.” She said she wants to stay involved because the “town is at a critical juncture.” Since there are two open seats on the board and four candidates, Wallace noted that the town has the opportunity to reshape the board and “say where we’re going.”

Among the issues that concern her are the town’s difficulty meeting its budget, upcoming decisions about the town center infrastructure and reuse of town buildings, implementation of the Town Center Master Plan, Devens, schools, and being a member of a more cohesive Board of Selectmen. The town’s seniors are also on her list of priorities, along with housing.

“Suburban and rural communities are under the gun,” according to Wallace, and she would like to collaborate with other communities in the region to influence how the state will address affordable housing issues in towns such as Harvard, including meeting the needs for school and town services, which are generated by development. She believes that some townspeople see her as pro-development and said that what they are missing is that she understands, and has for years, that Harvard is vulnerable to 40Bs. She tries to accomplish state-mandated goals in a way that is consistent with the goals of the town, she said. Wallace is the director of the town’s Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund and a member of the Housing Partnership.

Wallace said she fears that the town’s finances “could break the sense of community” here, and during her next term she wants the town to become “financially sustainable and viable.” Town finances, identifying resources, and determining how to manage growth is her highest priority, she said.

Wallace supports the two Proposition 2½ overrides for the schools—Article 4, the omnibus budget that includes an override amount of $650,000, and Article 9, the $113,500 override for additional school expenses. She said that it is “short money to spend for the great opportunity” the virtual high school and additional part-time tutorial positions would offer Bromfield students. Before taking a position on Article 10, the $140,000 capital outlay exemption for a new Department of Public Works truck, Wallace said she wants to know a little more about it.

Citing the decline in the most recent fourth-grade MCAS scores in math as an indicator, Wallace said she fears that the quality of Harvard’s schools is “right on the edge.” Programs that were available when her children attended school have been cut, class sizes have increased, and the costs of extracurricular activities are a “huge burden on parents,” she said.

Article 17, the citizens’ petition asking for up to $25,000 for an independent audit of the town’s special education expenditures, is too vague, according to Wallace, and she supports Article 16, the special education audit article that was inserted by the selectmen and Finance Committee.

It isn’t unusual for the selectmen to disagree with one another, Wallace acknowledged, and “recently we don’t talk out our differences,” so it looks like the board is not cohesive. “We need to work at lessening” the polarization, she said.

Wallace wants the Devens disposition to be resolved in a way that is “fair to Harvard so that we are able to move ahead as a community,” she said. She advocates providing enough information and discourse so that voters are able to make an informed decision when the issue is again voted on at town meetings and at the polls. The Joint Boards of Selectmen “need to lead” and help the communities get through the process, Wallace said, and she is glad the Devens Committee is participating.