News and Updates

Did you miss Clinton candidates night, and want to get caught up on where the candidates for Board of Selectmen, School Committee, moderator and Library Trustees stand on the issues? You’re in luck.

Candidates night is on YouTube, so you have all weekend to watch in the comfort of your home or office. Heading to the beach, or hanging out by the pool? Check it out on your phone!

Bottom line? There’s never been a better time to learn more about the people running for office in Clinton.

Election Day is Monday, June 10, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For the first time in many years, Clinton has two open seats on its Board of Selectmen. It’s a tremendous opportunity to shape the future of the board, and our town, and that is why I am enthusiastically endorsing Jessica Spano for one of those open seats.

Jessica isn’t your typical Clinton candidate. She’s young, a woman, and relatively new to town. That newness, however, hasn’t stopped her from getting involved and sharing her ideas and expertise. She brings a point of view that is hers alone in the field, one I think the Board of Selectmen sorely needs.

When I formed the board’s Marketing and Communication subcommittee in 2017, Jessica was the first to apply. But it’s how she applied that really impressed me. Where most would send a simple email expressing interest in serving, Jessica took the time to spell out in detail what she loved about Clinton and what we could do to make the town and quality of life here better, both for residents and potential business owners.

Jessica has a background in retail marketing and management, with an eye toward customer service and user experience — two things I find critical in a good public servant. I have always found her thoughtful and easy to work with, yet determined and firm in her beliefs. She is a good teammate and a steady leader. She is passionate about Clinton, but understands the challenges working in municipal government brings when trying to enact change. She will make our town a better place to live, work and own a business.

Jessica Spano is the kind of fresh, forward-facing person the Clinton Board of Selectmen needs. She believes in our community, and I believe in her. I hope you’ll join me Monday, June 10, in voting for her for Board of Selectmen.

Polls are open Monday, June 10, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Clinton Town Hall. For more information on Jessica Spano, visit facebook.com/jessicaspanoforselectwoman.

For the first time in many years, Clinton has two open seats on its Board of Selectmen. It’s a tremendous opportunity to shape the future of the board, and our town, and that is why I am enthusiastically endorsing Ed Devault for one of those open seats.

I have known Ed for close to 15 years. He’s been a good friend, always eager to offer help or advice whenever needed. He loves Clinton, and lives to make his hometown better.

His achievements on the School Committee are well documented, including a key role in the search for a new superintendent, helping transition the School Department into the new town-wide Facilities Department, and a reorganization of the FIRST Robotics program. He’s been a leader in pushing for more aggressive and transparent marketing and communication on behalf of the School Department.

In fact, Ed’s early time on the School Committee served as an inspiration to me when I first considered a run for public office. I have no doubt he’ll continue this hard work, and steady success, on the Board of Selectmen.

Ed has a keen sense of how this town works, and isn’t afraid to point out the places we need to be doing better. While every job has its learning curve, his familiarity of the town budget process and familiarity with other boards and committees means he can hit the ground running and help us get to work right away. That’s important, since we have a lot of work to do.

One look at his platform and priorities shows how serious Ed is about improving the quality of life here, for residents and business owners. He has thoughtful, aggressive (but realistic) proposals for everything from attracting business to Clinton, to cleaning up graffiti and litter, to expanding job skills training and after-school options for our kids. As serious as he is about policy, however, Ed never loses his sense of humor, or his cool. This appreciation and understanding of the quirks and complexities of our town will go a long way toward making it better.

Ed Devault is the kind of public servant we need more of in Clinton. I’m thrilled he’s running for the Board of Selectmen, and can’t wait to cast my ballot for him on Monday, June 10. I hope you’ll join me.

Polls are open Monday, June 10, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Clinton Town Hall. For more information on Ed Devault, find him on Facebook or visit devaultforselectman.com.

Clinton’s Annual Town Meeting is this Monday, June 3, at 7 p.m.

If you have any questions about the Town Meeting warrant or the FY2020 budget, I’ll be holding online office hours on Friday, May 31, from 9 to 10 a.m. on my Facebook page. If you can’t make it at that time, just leave a question, or email me at kerriganforclinton@gmail.com, and I’ll do my best to answer it.

Town Meeting will decide several important articles, including a major reconstruction of the downtown High Street business district and changes to zoning that could help development. Make sure you check out the warrant before Monday to familiarize yourself with what we’ll be voting on.

Also, if you’re interested in the details of how the budget came together, Finance Committee meetings are now on YouTube, so you can catch up in the comfort of your home or office.

Spring is here and we’re cleaning up Clinton. Join your friends and neighbors this Saturday, May 18, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. as we hold a townwide Clean-up Day.

We’ll start on Union Street (behind the Police Station and across from Central Park), then work together to pick up as much litter as we can.

The event is rain or shine. For more information, contact me or email clintonmarcomm@gmail.com. 

Hope to see you there!

This past week, a Clinton man was found dead in his apartment on Water Street, part of a public housing complex owned by the Clinton Housing Authority. The district attorney said the man suffered injuries that indicated foul play, and a suspect is in custody.

Since then, I have been contacted by residents concerned about the security and safety of Clinton Housing Authority properties. Other residents have spoken out on social media and in the press, echoing these concerns.

In an effort to clear the air and reassure the residents of Clinton, the Board of Selectmen has invited the Clinton Housing Authority to join us at our meeting on Wednesday, February 20.

As a public servant in the social media age, I know how quickly, and easily, misinformation can spread. I want to give my colleagues on the Housing Authority the chance to get the facts out to the public in an open, televised format. I believe that having a frank conversation about the issues they’re facing will go a long way toward ensuring that our town is a safe place to live, regardless of your address.

I hope the Clinton Housing Authority accepts this invitation and joins us on February 20.

Later this year, the town will be reconstructing Walnut Street between Church and Water street, part of our ongoing effort to keep Clinton’s streets and sidewalks safe and modern.

The project will include the replacement of water lines, as well as on-street parking, new sidewalks, curbing, lighting and landscaping.

On Thursday, January 31, at 7 p.m., Clinton’s Community and Economic Development Office will host an information session in the Select Chamber (second floor) of Town Hall. Residents of Water Street and any other interested citizen are welcome to attend and learn more about this exciting project.

More information is available here:

Driving down High Street this weekend, I was thrilled to see a few new additions to the streetscape there: The first wave of our wayfinding signage initiative, designed to help residents and visitors better navigate the downtown business district.

It was great to see the physical signage out and about, after a few months of working through designs with our director of community and economic development, DPW superintendent, my fellow Selectman Marc Iacobucci, and other representatives from Town Hall and the business community. We think the signage is a scalable, incremental way to lead people around the downtown business district at a relatively low cost.

We tend to take High Street for granted in a lot of ways here, but it’s the kind of walkable, modular downtown that other towns would kill for. One problem with it’s location, however, is that someone could drive through Clinton every day on Main Street or Water Street and not know about all the food, shopping and entertainment options that sit just a block or two away. And, once they get here, they might not know where some things are or where there is plenty of free parking. That’s where the wayfinding project comes in.

Through a state grant, Clinton was paired with Favermann Design, the talented people behind countless other Massachusetts municipal branding projects, as well as the Fenway Park Centennial, the 1999 Ryder Cup, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and more. Over the course of several months, our group worked through possible design elements, colors and layouts to come up with something we think shows off Clinton in a way that’s different but not totally detached from our roots.

Future phases can expand on what we’ve begun and, along with other streetscape and lighting projects in the works, will go a long way toward showing the world that we take our downtown seriously.

The December 5 meeting of the Clinton Board of Selectmen — including the FY19 Tax Classification Hearing, where the board set the property tax rates in town for the coming fiscal year — is up online on the town’s YouTube channel. 

Happy to report that current Board of Selectmen meetings (at least the recent ones; more should be added soon) can now be viewed on YouTube, part of a joint effort of the board’s Cable and Marketing and Communications subcommittees to give residents who might not have a traditional cable subscription access to our semi-weekly meeting broadcasts.

Check out the past few months of our meetings, and subscribe to the new “Clinton, Mass.” channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmQzmLdx5gP_Dms10YCHvkA.

And don’t miss last night’s meeting, where we previewed next week’s Tax Classification Hearing: