Selectmen To Seek Re-election

As 2012 fast approaches, many eyes are turned to the upcoming presidential election, with the first caucus scheduled for Jan. 3 in Iowa and Massachusetts’ presidential primary set for March 6.

Local politics also will be active this year, as all 240 Town Meeting seats will be up at the April 10 town election because Needham’s following the 2010 U.S. Census.

In addition, 15 positions on town boards and committees are open this spring, and candidates can begin taking out nomination papers in the town clerk’s office on Tuesday, Jan. 3. (Town Hall will be closed on Monday, Jan. 2.)

On the Board of Selectmen, two terms are up in 2012, and both the individuals serving in those positions—John Bulian and Moe Handel—say they plan to run again.

“I’ll be taking out my papers on Jan. 3,” Bulian said last week. He is completing his third three-year term on the Board of Selectmen.

A Needham resident for more than 24 years, Bulian said his favorite part of the job has been working with constituents.

“I get calls almost every day of the week, almost throughout the year—little things or big things that concern residents and other people throughout the town,” he said. “The reason I ran initially for the Board of Selectmen was to make government work better for the people who pay the bills, and that’s what I do.”

When many people think about the role of a selectman, they tend to remember the “big projects,” Bulian said—things like Town Hall or school renovations or helping to bring a new senior center to town. But Bulian said selectmen play just a small role in most of those efforts, with many other town officials, boards and committees coming together to get the work done.

To Bulian, selectmen’s real work comes in solving a lot of little issues—a tricky pothole, an icy road that needs attention, a sewer back-up or even a disagreement among neighbors.

“I have enjoyed immensely that part of being on the board, and I’d like to continue,” Bulian said.

When he’s not doing selectmen’s work, Bulian owns and operates Boston Blinds, with a store in Newton Upper Falls that serves customers in Newton, Needham, Wellesley, Brookline and Dover.

Prior to being elected as a Needham selectman, Bulian served on the town’s Solid Waste Committee and was also a member of Town Meeting for many years. He also was an elected water and sewer commissioner and a Town Meeting member in Braintree before moving to Needham.

Handel has also lived in Needham for nearly 25 years and is finishing his first three-year term on the Board of Selectmen. He said last week that he “absolutely” will be running in 2012.

“I felt that I could bring a fresh approach to problem solving and wanted a chance to try to apply that as a member of the Board of Selectmen,” Handel said of why he initially ran. “I like being on the board and being able to engage in advancing the interests of Needham.”

Handel previously served on the Planning Board for more than a dozen years and has also been active on various working groups and committees around town. He also has served as the president of the Needham Historical Society board.

He works as a consultant in the hospice and health care industry.

Nomination papers for candidates running in the April 10 election will be available beginning Tuesday, Jan. 3 and must be filed with the Needham Board of Registrars by Feb. 22. Each candidate for a town office must gather at least 50 signatures of registered Needham voters to be eligible to go on the ballot, while all Town Meeting member candidates must submit at least 10 signatures. Incumbent Town Meeting members must return a written acceptance form, which they will receive in the mail, to the town clerk’s office by Feb. 14.

For more information and a complete list of deadlines for candidates related to the 2012 town election, see from the town clerk’s office.

Below is a quick look at the town officials whose seats are up in 2012: