Mark Carota, Select Board Candidate-April 6th local election, #1 on the ballot, Current Vice Chair, Zoning Board of Appeals, USAF Veteran, Former Pharma Executive and Officer of a publicly traded company. My wife, Joanne and I have been in town for 33 years. Our two adult children Holly and Matt both graduated from Chelmsford high. During their school years, as many parents are, we were quite invo
lved with our children’s education and attended many events, open houses, and meetings throughout the years. I also coached softball, little league baseball and CYBL. All these activities certainly allowed us to get to know many families in town and immerse ourselves into the community. I have been a member of the Chelmsford Zoning Board of Appeals for the past 10 years and currently serve as Vice Chairman. Serving on ZBA has allowed me to better understand the needs within our community. In this role, I have had the pleasure of meeting many of our residents, both those I served with and those who were before the Board with applications for zoning relief they needed to add rooms or whatever they desired to support their family. I have also sat on several 40B Comprehensive Permits which bring along a whole different set of challenges. The ZBA has given me an opportunity to read further into the Chelmsford Zoning Code and other Massachusetts governing documents when considering applications as they come before the board. It has been both a challenging and rewarding experience. I also believe that my background as a former Pharma Executive and Officer of a publicly traded company will be an asset to the Select Board. In this role, I collaborated with my management team and with our Board of Directors as we weathered several challenges and seized opportunities to grow the business and eventually sell the company for a considerable premium. I was then retained by the acquiring company to continue to head-up operations. I developed new strategies with a new and culturally diverse management team to drive the business toward greater economic goals. I was in that role for close to 20 years, from the start-up stage through commercialization, profitability, and acquisition. My leadership, responsibility, accountability and transparency, are skills that I will bring to the Select Board. My immediate priority for Chelmsford, if elected, will be to focus on promoting positive dialogue and collaboration within the Select Board and with the Town Manager. I believe this issue is paramount to gaining great success over the coming years. With respect to the tax classification issue; I do not believe that businesses should be taxed at a high rate vs residential. From my research, I cannot find any justification for such a shift. Due to current economic conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, I believe we will have to see how federal and state aide flow down to cities and towns, what residents and businesses might see by ways of relief, and how the economy responds to the roll-out and administration of the vaccines before determining how rates might be set in November. I would like to add that I am a proud USAF veteran; and conclude by thanking those in town that have urged me to run and supported my candidacy. I will also mention that you can find me on FB . Thank you again for this opportunity to connect with you. I hope that in the coming days, and after considering your options, that you will cast one of your two votes for me on April 6th.