Dear Editor,
With the Reading Select Board election rapidly approaching, I’m pleased to add my voice in support of Karen Herrick. I urge you to review Karen’s considerable qualifications, experience, and dedication to Reading, and to support and vote for her as well. As most of you know, Karen is completing her first 3-year term as a Select Board member, which have been difficult and challenging ones in our town and around the world and yet today the Reading community is healthy and robust. For this, I’m grateful to all town officials however I believe Karen’s leadership, qualifications, and commitment contributed to Reading’s success and ultimate strong position during this time.
Please take a moment to examine Karen’s extensive personal, professional, and civic background, and her numerous contributions supporting the Reading community over the last 23 years (votekarenherrick.com). I simply note here her family background in public service, her educational background in finance, her professional background here in Reading, and her 23 years of dedicated volunteer service to Reading (Select Board, Town Meeting, Finance Committee, Library Building Committee, Reading Historical Commission, several town ad hoc committees and local initiatives, RMHS Drama Parent & Choral Parent, PAWS foster mom, PTO volunteer, Wood End Playground Committee, St. Athanasius Parish religious education teacher). Karen embodies all the values and credentials one could ask for in a town leader and Select Board member.
I’ve lived in Reading for over 37 years. I’ve been an active participant myself in our community and volunteer government as a Town Meeting member (28 years), Community Planning & Development Commission member (17 years), Reading Historical Commission member (over 8 years), and several other Town ad hoc committees. Throughout these years I’ve known and worked with Karen, and I know her to be dedicated, thoughtful, considerate, and respectful.
As you may know, CPDC is responsible for maintaining and administering the Town’s zoning bylaws, including residential development and much of the Town’s business development. Their deliberations regularly intersect with the important concerns and values of Reading’s homeowners as well as those of Reading’s business community, and these can often be controversial and contentious. Throughout her career and most recently as a Select Board member, Karen has made it a point to inform herself and participate in these cases, seeking to bridge differences and advance Reading’s interests.
The RHC is responsible for identifying the Town’s historical structures and taking steps to preserve them for future generations, including administering the Town’s historic structures demolition delay bylaw which can sometimes pit the interests and values of the Town or property owners against each other. I’ve known Karen’s strong commitment to the importance and value of Reading’s rich historical past, and as an RHC member I’m grateful for her continuing support for responsible efforts to preserve the Town’s character and identity. The CPDC, the RHC, and the Town have benefitted from Karen’s commitment and participation which she has always provided in a thoughtful, considerate, and collaborative manner, always with the goal of furthering the overall best interests of the Town.
As with most of you, I believe Reading is at the top of the list of best towns to live in and raise a family, and we value Reading as a tight knit, caring, small town community. We expect to have confidence and trust in the ability and integrity of our local government leaders. These values are the foundation on which our reputation is built, and our continued success depends on sustaining them. I’ve known Karen for most of my 33 years of volunteer service and Karen embodies each and all these values, beliefs, and characteristics. Hers is a 23-year record of volunteering, participating, and serving the Town of Reading and the Reading community. It’s a record of selfless commitment, integrity, and contribution. For these reasons, I endorse Karen Herrick for the Select Board, and I urge you to vote for her as well.
Jonathan Barnes
Pratt Street
