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Dear Editor,
I am writing in support of Karen Herrick’s re-election to the Select Board this April. Karen and I met a few years ago when she was the Select Board Liaison to the Conservation Committee and I was Chair. For context, my volunteer experience on Conservation started in 2006 and continued uninterrupted until my departure in June of 2022, with multiple terms as Chair and Vice Chair. Over those 16 years, I’ve had the opportunity to see first-hand the many ways a volunteer board can function and have gained through experience an understanding of how Reading government serves the community.
Our Liaison meetings would begin with Karen asking, “How’s it going?”. The fact that she regularly made time for our meetings, and her interest in hearing about Conservation, was a welcome breath of fresh air. In my years on the committee, I had not had the experience of having a town official take consistent, regular interest in understanding what was going on. To me, Conservation had almost become relegated as the “unwanted” town department- better to avoid, if possible, deal with only if you must. I understood, though – most projects are costly enough without the added requirements Conservation imposes. However, State regulations and town bylaws require that Conservation review projects and to protect environmental resources if needed.
During our regular meetings I came to appreciate how Karen prioritized listening at the outset. From our first discussions, I saw she was someone who understood and appreciated the hard work Conservation members committed to each month, from bi-weekly site visits, permit package reviews, preparation of technical comments/questions, and bi-weekly public meetings which tended to run late. Ultimately our conversations would end with another question from Karen, “What do you need/what can I do to help you function better?”. These conversations and questions were supportive: here was a Select Board member who was open to dialogue, open to understanding the ins and outs of our particular board and offering to be a partner.
Outside of meetings, Karen would sometimes contact me to tell me about other Conservation-related opportunities she was aware of, such as chances to expand engagement with the community, collaborate with other groups (such as the Materra Cabin Community Gardens Project), or opportunities to team with other boards to improve town open spaces (like invasive pulling with Town Forest and Trails Committees). It’s these little additional efforts that began to create better inter committee collaboration, and thus the productive outcomes you see today. When town departments collaborate better, residents get better results.
As I see it, Reading is a town full of smart, hard-working people who are passionate about where they live. I write this in the hope of showing you that from what I’ve experienced, Karen is smart, dedicated, hard-working, and passionate about helping Reading become an even better place to live. Please consider giving her your vote on or before April 4th. Thank you.
Annika Scanlon
