Carroll wants to look for more efficiency and renting empty town buildings if elected to the Board of Selectmen.
John E. CarrollWARE – Park Commissioner John E. Carroll plans to look for more efficient ways of running the town government if he is elected selectman in the April 11 election.
Carroll and incumbents Melissa D. Weise and John A. Desmond are competing for two seats on the board up for election this year.
“We are in a fiscal crisis now. It is getting progressively worse. We have to find some new ways of doing things in a less expensive manner,” Carroll said.
“I think the secret is to streamline,” he said.
If elected to the Board of Selectmen, Carroll said he would want to talk with department heads, including the fire and police chiefs, to look for ways to be more efficient.
Tax increases or fee increases are not the answer, Carroll said, because too many people living in Ware cannot afford to pay more.
One possible source of additional revenue he would investigate would be to see if some empty municipal buildings could be rented out to businesses, so they could be turned into revenue rather than liabilities.
Carroll said he would also look into developing budget plans so that residents could make their tax and fee payments on a monthly basis.
Carroll is a native of Norwood and moved to Ware when he was six and attended public schools. He graduated from Ware High School.
He also earned an associate degree in law enforcement from Springfield Technical Community College and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration from the University of Massachusetts.
He is a former member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and was a call firefighter in Ware and was a full-time police officer in the town before becoming a state trooper. He retired from the state police nine years ago.
Carroll now works as a driver and in scheduling and billing for Starforce National, a Michigan based company that handles transportation for recruits at Westover Air Reserve Base.
If elected, the town charter would require that Carroll step down from his position on the Park Commission.
The election will be held April 11 at Town Hall, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.