Candidates for town office agreed at a forum Wednesday that Wellesley must stay committed to sustainability for the sake of the community’s future.
The event, hosted by Sustainable Wellesley less than a week before the March 4 town election, allowed each candidate in the town’s two contested races — for seats on the Select Board and Recreation Commission — to give a three-minute speech about their positions on sustainability.
The Select Board candidates — Kenny Largess, Odessa Sanchez, and Michael Tauer — kicked things off.
Largess, a member of Wellesley’s Advisory Committee, told the crowd that the town is responsible for its future.
“We wouldn’t build a house knowing it would crumble in a few years,” Largess said. “But when we ignore sustainability, that’s exactly what we’re doing — building a future on shaky ground.”
He said sustainability can benefit the town’s economy and that “short-sighted decisions” can create long-term damage that is more expensive to fix.
“Energy-efficient homes lower utility bills,” Largess said. “Walkable, bikeable towns boost local businesses. Communities that invest in sustainability become more desirable places to live, raising property values. The future economy is green, and towns that resist change risk being left behind.”
Sanchez, chairperson of the Wellesley Housing Authority, said she listened in on Climate Action Committee workshops when she became chair in 2021. She lives in public housing and wants to ensure it is included in sustainable action.
“I swore myself to be dedicated to find out more ways that my community — I live in public housing — can be recognized and be considered whenever they’re making any kind of sustainability initiatives,” Sanchez said.
Collaboration among environmental advisers, town stakeholders, residents, and businesses is necessary to achieve environmental justice, she said.
“Going green should never create a hardship for anyone, and I think that if I was on the Select Board I would make sure that those conversations happen,” Sanchez said.
Tauer, chair of the Permanent Building Committee (PBC), said sustainability is about maintaining the planet for future generations.
“Whatever we’re arguing about today, whatever we’re focused on today, we will wake up tomorrow and we will still share this one special planet that we have,” Tauer said. “So if we’re going to achieve that goal of handing off a town that is vibrant and thriving and sustainable and financially secure, it is critical that we also hand off a planet that is vibrant and thriving and secure.”
The crowd included many members of the Wellesley community, including Town Meeting members, residents, and Wellesley High School students.
Maisie Fitzpatrick, a student taking an AP environmental science class at Wellesley High, said she appreciated the candidates’ emphasis on the future.
“Since I’m learning about the environment in school and how important it is to take action now, it was really cool how much they were emphasizing wanting to make a better place for the younger generation,” Fitzpatrick said.
Tauer also highlighted the sustainability impacts of his work through the PBC on Hardy and Hunnewell Elementary Schools. Both were net-zero buildings with all-electric systems, and Tauer and the PBC are working to make the Warren Recreation Center net-zero.
The Recreation Commission candidates — Nathalie de Fontnouvelle, Garfield Miller, and Laurance Stuntz — also delivered brief speeches. De Fontnouvelle could not attend, but Sustainable Wellesley board member Phyllis Theermann read written remarks de Fontnouvelle sent beforehand.
De Fontnouvelle wrote that she heard the results of the 2023 MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey in a school committee meeting, and said pollution can be a stress factor and harm mental health.
Evaelle Huor, another student taking an AP environmental class at Wellesley High School, said she was intrigued by de Fontnouvelle’s comments.
“I didn’t know the link between pollution and climate change and mental health,” Huor said.
Miller — a volunteer at the Tolles Parsons Center and a participant in other recreation activities in town — said that after discussing the mission of the Recreation Department with its director, Matt Chin, he thought about how it could connect to Sustainable Wellesley’s mission.
“If you put those two missions into a Venn diagram, there’s obviously going to be places where they might butt heads, but there’s also areas, I think, where we could work together to make improvements to the town.”
He listed initiatives such as encouraging the continued use of shared resources, promoting afterschool activities on-site at schools, and advocating for more busing as ways the Recreation Department can improve while remaining sustainable.
Stuntz, who is seeking re-election, joked about the refreshments at the event at the start of his speech.
“There’s nothing more sustainable than the fact that there’s no plastic cups and nothing more Wellesley than the fact that they’re all Yacht Club double old-fashioned glasses,” he said.
Stuntz said he has always supported Sustainable Wellesley’s goals and voted in favor of sustainable practices in town. To him, sustainability means reusing and sharing resources.
“I do think that there’s always going to be a balance between, we should reduce our carbon footprint, but that doesn’t mean no development whatsoever,” Stuntz said.
Theermann of Sustainable Wellesley said she was pleased that the event, held at the Wellesley Free Library, was well attended, but she hopes people vote.
“There’s so many things that people can do, and some things are heavy lifts, and some things are not,” she said. “Voting is an easy lift, and people should definitely get out and vote their values.”
This story is part of a partnership between the Swellesley Report and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
