Town Manager Announces Appointments To Affordable Housing Trust and Human Rights Commission

Town Manager Paul Bockelman, in a memo to the Town Clerk  dated April 21, 2021, nominated appointments to the  Affordable Housing Trust, and The Human Rights Commission,  Those nominees were approved by the Town Services and Outreach committee at their meeting on April 22 and will be forwarded to the Town Council for final approval.  A vote is likely at the Council’s next meeting on May 4.

Affordable Housing Trust
Reappointed for Two-year terms: (expiring June 30, 2023)

·  Robert Crowner
·  Carol Lewis
·  Eric Piedade
·  William Van Heuvelen

The Town Manager provided the following biographical profiles of the nominees:

Rob Crowner:  has been a member of the Planning Board, Comprehensive Planning Committee, and Public Works Committee. He has worked on the Master Plan, reviewed projects, and worked with others to develop amendments to the zoning bylaws. His employment is with a nonprofits that work on developing ways for low income and disadvantaged people to access resources including housing that are usually considered necessary for achieving economic empowerment. He has been a member of the Trust since 2019.

Carol Lewis:  has been a carpenter, nonprofit administrator, member of the collective staff of a Food Coop and of a paper recycling business, and a teacher of college freshman-level English. She has also participated in a prison Alternatives to Violence program, a housing cooperative, and Common Good Finance – an organization working to create a depositor-controlled banking system. Carol is a trained mediator with a strong commitment to social justice issues. She has been a member of the Trust since 2019.

Erica Piedade: has worked for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and seeks to bring a public health perspective to housing initiatives. She emphasizes the importance of community engagement and involvement and the utilization of fact-based decision-making. She has been a member of the Trust since 2019.

William Van Heuvelen :seeks to work on the Trust to provide solutions to the housing issues faced by the Town. He owns a small business that he hopes to relocate to town and is a new homeowner. In the process of buying his house, he came to recognize the processes by which income and wealth stratify neighborhoods and populations. He has worked in a law firm in Springfield on tenant-landlord cases and developed expertise with housing authorities. He has been a member of the Trust since 2019.

Human Rights Commission
Reappointed for Three-year terms (expiring June 30, 2024):

• ·  Benjamin Herrington
• ·  Deborah Neubauer

The Town Manager provided the following biographical profiles of the nominees:

Benjamin Herrington: is an elected member of the School Committee and serves on the Elementary School Building Committee. He is an employee of the School District working in the facilities and transportation department. He has been a member of the Commission since 2019.

Deborah Neubauer: Deborah  worked for the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County for the past three years and is a social worker in the Franklin County jails. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Work and works daily with people of high risk/high needs to assist them to meet the challenges they face. She has been a member of the Commission since 2019.