WESTFORD — WestfordCAT reached out to the two candidates running for two open J.V. Fletcher Library Board of Trustees seats in the May 3 Westford municipal elections. Candidates were asked the same outline of questions, and were free to share their replies during an interview with WestfordCAT.
Incumbent Glen Secor spoke with WestfordCAT, outlining his background, experience and aspirations if reelected to the board.
Experience and Education
Secor currently works as an attorney. He received his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University.
Past/Present Municipal Experience
Secor has served on the J.V. Fletcher Library Board of Trustees since 2017. Before this, he served on Westford’s Finance Committee.
Volunteer participation, community involvement
Secor said his work as an attorney prevents him from staying involved with other matters in the town, but he affirmed that is committed to the library.
What should voters know about you?
“I’m committed to the library. I joke with people that I have libraries in my blood,” he said. “My father started a library bookselling company back in the 70s.”
He noted that he grew up in Westford and is “committed to the town.”
Why do you believe voters should choose you?
Secor encourages voters to turn out not just for his election, but for each municipal election.
“I think voters should turn out,” he said. “The number of people who participate is pretty minimal, I would encourage people to get out and vote, exercise your right to vote as it’s part of what makes us a community.”
If elected, what impact do you hope to make?
“Over the next three years, it will be about the expansion,” he said. “We need more space, we need more functional space and we need to fix some of the structural problems. It’s that simple to me.”
He also spoke on the library’s efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The library, while facing a full shutdown, continued to provide consistent programming for residents.
“Maybe COVID is winding down or not but watching how the library managed itself through a complete shutdown to reopening… they just did a great job for the community at each step along the way.”
Secor spoke on the necessity of information availability for communities and a library’s role in promoting freedom of speech.
“I don’t see Westford as a town that will look to ban books, and that necessitates a conversation and a challenge for all libraries at this moment,” he said. “Part of what libraries do is they make information available.”
He continued, “they also run a lot of programs and serve as a meeting space. I think the library has done that, and I think people have appreciated that. It’s not just a place where people walk in to get a book, it’s a communal space for the town.”
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