endorsements

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We are fortunate to have Tom Fay running for re-election to the Board of Selectmen.  

Tom’s passion and commitment to supporting, promoting and improving our community are exceptional.  In addition to countless hours and years supporting the schools and sports while his four children went through the public system, Tom has held numerous elected and appointed positions within town government.  

I first became aware of Tom’s involvement with Town issues when Tom spearheaded the Wayland Hurricane Relief Steering Committee.  Since then, I have been impressed with his continued and varied involvement with town government from the Wayland Library Planning Committee, to the Wayland Town Meeting Rules Advisory Committee and most notably the Board of Selectmen from 2009 - 2012 and again starting in 2019 until now.    

Tom’s knowledge of how our town government works and the issues we face for the last decades to the present are unrivaled.  Please join me in supporting Tom Fay for reelection to the Board of Selectmen by voting absentee or at the polls on May 10.  

Lisa Valone 

Rice Rd 

We have been residents of Spencer Circle for 20 years. We write to support Tom Fay's bid for  re-election to the Board of Selectmen and highly endorse his candidacy.  

Our experience with Tom began when the residents of Spencer Circle brought to Tom's attention the repeated difficulties they had been experiencing over the previous 19 years in getting the Town to finally take Spencer Circle as a public way. This was an undertaking that was intended as a part of the original subdivision approval and which should have been accomplished by at least 2004.  

Tom was one of the most instrumental Town representatives with whom we dealt in finally getting Spencer Circle taken. He quickly assimilated the past history of the subdivision and the undertakings that had been promised but not fulfilled by former Town employees. Thereafter,  realizing that positively resolving this nearly 20-year old issue would clearly be in the Town's best interest, he aggressively moved ahead to ensure that all Town Boards and Departments understood the need and their legal obligation to support doing so. He worked tirelessly throughout the process, attending every board meeting, and ensuring that all of the needed steps were accurately and timely completed, ultimately resulting in Town Meeting approval last year.     

Tom's character, integrity, leadership, legal ability, attention to detail, and having the Town's and its residents' best interests at heart, make Tom the best candidate for the open position. We urge all Wayland residents to support Tom's re-election to the Board of Selectmen when voting at the polls on May 10th!   

Ev & Gordon Schultz 

Spencer Circle

This letter is to reach out to all my fellow Wayland voters on the  upcoming elections for Select Board incumbent, Tom Fay. 

I always vote for the  person that I think will represent the people of our Town and will best serve our  community’s needs. I look for a leader who takes the challenges of our times and  works across divisive lines to get things done. In this regard, Tom Fay has been  outstanding.  

This year, there are many challenges including COVID responses in our  schools and public services that continue to carry over from the past years as well  as several new capital plans that are listed for the next three years. Tom and the  Select Board members have gotten many things done: shepherding the River’s  Edge housing forward, overseeing the PFAS water treatment project to  completion and finally, Tom successfully negotiated a settlement agreement with  Twenty Wayland, LLC regarding the municipal parcels at the Town Center. He  also got consensus of the Select Board to submit the CoA/Community Center  Article in the upcoming Town Meeting.

After so much progress was made just  this year, it would be a terrible risk to change leadership in the middle of these  next important capital projects.  I am putting my faith and hope in Tom’s honesty and integrity to carry all  the important Town projects over the finish line during his next term. Please  register to vote today and re-elect Tom Fay to the Select Board.  

Bill Sterling

Morse Road

Vice Chair of the Council on Aging Board Writing Personally

I am writing to support Tom Fay for Select Board. I am a Wayland father of four, a former chair of the Town's Finance Committee, and a long-time fire pit aficionado.    

There are good reasons Tom Fay has been serving our town for as long as he has. He is kind, he is a good listener, and he is an excellent steward of our diverse interests.   Those of you who have coached with and served alongside Tom know all this already. 

I encourage everyone else in town to get to know Tom and vote for him, too.   

Thomas Greenaway

Jeffrey Road

Former Chair of the Wayland Finance Committee

Tom Fay has been my neighbor and cherished friend for over twenty years. 

I’ve marveled at how much he has accomplished (most recently bringing the Community Center and the Loker grass field article to a vote) and how much time he has selflessly devoted to making Wayland a better and more inclusive place.

The key to Tom’s effectiveness is the long-standing, wide-reaching and mutually-respectful relationships he has built with our residents, staff, and volunteers.  Please join me in voting for Tom Fay for our Select Board.  

Megan Lucier  

Rice Spring Lane

Dear Residents of Wayland:  

I have known Tom Fay for over 20 years, both as a friend and as a fellow-activist on Wayland Town boards and committees.  The first thing I need to tell you about Tom is that he is one of the nicest people who has served on the Board of Selectmen (now the Select Board) and at the same time, one of the most competent people who has served on that committee.  That is a very important combination.  

Unlike many who have served on the Select Board and who serve today, Tom is terrific at listening to people who have a variety of opinions and views, even when they differ from Tom’s vision for the Town.  He is open to considering how to incorporate the ideas of others into his visions for the Town.  Tom understands that we have a myriad of residents in Wayland who have different wants and needs.  

One group I worry about in Wayland today are our school parents and children.  We have push back from people on key committees against the schools.  They do not realize that our Wayland School system, which is one of the highest rated in Massachusetts and in the United States, is being pushed very hard at a time when the needs of all schools, not just Wayland’s, are being challenged, especially with the social and psychological needs of kids.  Tom’s kids have all gone through the Wayland Schools.  He understands how important our school system is to the Town.  Losing Tom from the Select Board would be a major blow to our school system, and we cannot let that happen.  The schools not only educate our kids, but they are critical to maintaining the values of our homes.  

I have been a member of Wayland’s Finance Committee for 9 years.  Tom is the only member of the current Select Board who in the past was not a member of the Finance Committee; yet he is only one of a couple of members who understands that our challenge in budgeting as we go forward is to find ways to increase our revenues in Wayland, primarily through economic development.  If we just cut costs, we might restrain the growth in property taxes, but we will also cut all of our programs and improvements to our facilities.  We need to find ways to increase revenues by means other than property taxes from current residents.  Tom understands this.  He supports economic development, and a great example of this has been his support for the Route 20 Corridor project.  An even more significant project that he has supported is the Alta River’s Edge project which will have a very significant positive impact on Wayland’s taxpayers for many years to come, beginning in 2023, and growing significantly in 2024. 

 Examples of how Tom supports people across the Town are his long-time support of the Senior Center/Community Center, which Tom and I worked on over 10 years ago.  He supports playing fields for our children.  He has been out front in his support of the equity and inclusion program and is a supporter of smart energy projects such as the solar projects we have done in Wayland and others we are considering.  Many of these projects, such as the solar arrays, have an economic benefit to the Town, and Tom understands this.  

When you go to the polls on May 10th, please make sure you vote for Tom Fay for SelectBoard.  This is a critical election in Wayland.  We absolutely need to maintain Tom’s important voice on the Select Board, as losing it would be a significant loss for all Wayland residents.  Please: Vote for Tom Fay for Select Board!

Bill Steinberg

Highland Circle

Former Member and Chair of the Wayland Finance Committee

To fellow Wayland residents,  

The Town of Wayland needs Tom Fay.  

As a Select Board member for more than six years, Tom has critical working knowledge needed to get things done for our community. This experience will be invaluable as we move forward to identify a new Town Manager and find a new Town Planner.  As we transition to a new Town Manager form of government.  As we work to build the Community Center.  As we create a master plan for Route 20 to help revitalize the corridor.  The list of tasks goes on and on.  Important challenges are ahead of us. 

Tom understands how the Select Board works, and how our town government works.  To be candid, he understands how a select few squeaky wheels in our town make our town employees’ and town volunteers’ lives very difficult -- notoriously more difficult than in other towns, our town’s reputation most certainly precedes us -- leading to essential employees and volunteers leaving, taking their good intentions and institutional knowledge with them.    

We’ve been hit with several key departures in recent months, leaving us with a short bench, which makes someone with Tom’s experience all the more critical to keep in place this year.  

Tom has the demonstrated demeanor and experience to represent ALL Wayland residents, incorporating the reasonable concerns of the vocal few, but not succumbing to overkill or inertia.  We need a leader who has, and who can, balance the best interests of the entire town to move us forward and achieve our goals as a community.  To keep our schools strong.  To find good town employees, with full knowledge of our town’s challenges.  To balance the needs and the wants of many parties, and many  priorities, to find realistic and cost-effective solutions, and carry them forward.  

Neighbors have asked me what I think of the other candidates, and while I believe Tom is clearly the best choice for this year and this time, I would encourage Dovie to run next year when two Select Board seats open up.  Her perspective and expertise could encourage long-term balance of the Select Board, and the benefit of another year to get to know Wayland beyond HRDEI (Come join us on EDC for a year!  We would welcome your energy) would make her a compelling candidate for 2023 for Wayland.   

However, this year above all years, we have critical roles to fill, processes to enact, and jobs to get done, and we need Tom’s demonstrated steady stewardship among many groups, and his deep, first-hand knowledge of all our key issues, to make sure these happen this coming year.  We are learning the hard way that it is essential that we should not let proven institutional knowledge, strengths, and attributes walk out the door when they are so urgently needed.   

Please join me in voting to re-elect Tom Fay on May 10th.  

Becky Stanizzi 

Chair of the Wayland Economic Development Committee 

Written personally