John Linz – Citizen of the Year, 2017 – In His Own Words

Editor’s Note: John Linz delivered this message at the Town’s reception honoring him on October 6, 2017

I have to say that I am both surprised and honored to be selected Bedford’s citizen of the year. But I have to admit to being somewhat apprehensive between the time I was told and the official announcement – would this be an Oscar moment. (You remember at the Oscar awards this year when they announced a winner then admitted a mistake and awarded the Oscar to someone else!)  But there was no Oscar moment!    But this time was also a time to reflect on what got us along this path, especially some of our earlier experiences in Bedford.

Before Bedford, Marie and I worked for a government agency in Washington and were prohibited from participating in public affairs as a condition of employment. So moving to Bedford, I was curious about the town meeting form of government and how citizens were expected to be involved.

I would attend a town meeting to see how town folks and town officials interacted.  People could speak up in support of, or to complain about any aspect of an article. I like to complain, but it seemed to me that the complaints ring hollow unless one was willing to help with a solution. I’m not sure what I expected with my initial volunteer efforts, but I was pleasantly surprised to find I would be working with some highly motivated citizens who wanted the best solutions for the overall benefit of the town. I had the privilege of working with highly motivated intelligent folks on FINCOM and the Board of Assessors, and continue to do so on the Historic Preservation Commission and the Job Lane House Board of Directors. The experiences are pleasant and productive. I learned a lot from these folks. And I will admit that regardless of any effort I expended, the experience and the learning I got out of it was far more valuable to me.

This building, in particular, holds special memories for me. During my time on the Finance Committee, we met in this very room every Thursday evening. These meetings were very interesting with many conflicting viewpoints aired during some very long meetings. My first FINCOM meetings seemed to be the very definition of chaos; but Betsey Anderson was chair and she seemed to conduct the meetings in such fashion that all the conflicting viewpoints got aired and the group arrived at a decision that did, in some way, account for all of the viewpoints. And when the meeting was over, many of us would stay around on the front steps of this building for an after meeting social – and talk about anything that came to mind. I think this was our way of relieving any lingering tension from the meeting. After watching Betsey in action as FINCOM chair, it was no surprise to me to see her success on the Board of Selectmen and as Town Moderator.

A Finance Committee person who made an immediate impression on me was Jerry Pfeffer. Jerry had a personal computer and did analysis on topics of interest to the FINCOM agendas. He was a true data junkie and, I felt, a kindred spirit. His analyses covered a broad range of topics from budget projections to a complex plan to cover the town’s annual debt service payments in the early prop 2^1/2 environment. A frequent subject of his analysis was the Assessor’s operations.        I was given one of Jerry’s analyses at one of my first FINCOM meetings. This is a fine example of the depth and precision of Jerry’s analysis and for some reason, I’ve kept it over all of these years. You will see that it is thick – 27 pages containing cutting text, charts, and data tables; it has 7 appendices. Jerry’s attention to detail included these three holes that would allow it to be inserted into any 3 ring binder. The document could be a Master’s Thesis at many colleges and universities. It has a two-part title – a general topic, “Property Revaluation in Bedford, Fiscal Year 1981”, and a very specific sub-topic, “A Comparative Analysis of the Tax Levy Impact relative to Fiscal Year 1980”. While it has the depth of a Master’s Thesis, this is merely a report to the Finance Committee membership addressing 3 issues that were critical to FINCOM at that time:

• Classification: How it might have affected Bedford?
• Why did the Residential Tax burden jump so much in 1981?
• Why didn’t we Classify the Tax Rate in Fiscal Year 1981?

Clearly, I was very impressed with this work, given I kept it all these years. Perhaps this is what influenced my decision to run for a seat on the Board of Assessors.

Another FINCOM member who greatly influenced me was Bob Walline. Bob was, perhaps, the most conservative member of our group, and was a strong spokesman for the conservative view of many issues that came before us. For those who didn’t know Bob, he passed away in the late 1990s. While Bob was effective in getting some of the conservative view reflected in the common ground that we were seeking, his view did not always prevail. But when he was on the losing side of a vote, he accepted the vote of the majority as the position of the Finance Committee and would defend that FINCOM position as if it was his own. This was demonstrated so often during his times as FINCOM chair. As chair, Bob would present the FINCOM position on money-related articles at town meeting; and he would be as convincing on articles that he had earlier voted against, as he was on the articles that he voted for. Only FINCOM members would know this difference. If only we had more people in public office who would make their best case during the discussion phase of an issue, then abide by and support the voted position.

Another memory from this building is that little room in the corner. The last time that Bedford had to hire a Town Manager, John McCulloch, Joe Sweeney and I would meet in that room, in 1988, to go over a large pile of applications for that position. One of the applications was from an assistant city manager from Gaithersburg MD, a Mr. Richard T Reed. We narrowed the list down and eventually presented 3 or 4 candidates to the Selectmen, who then chose Mr. Reed. For reasons best known to the Selectmen, they have not gone through that selection process since. Perhaps Mr. Reed is still best available, or perhaps the Selectmen found the process too daunting to go through again.

The following summer, I received an official letter from Rick’s office. I know it is an official document because it is on the Town Administrator’s letterhead, including the red Bedford seal with the Bedford Flag. Click this link to read Rick Reed’s 1989 Letter to John Linz  I kept this letter because I saw it as an award for my efforts on behalf of the town, and that I would keep it until something better came along.  So Rick, if you don’t mind, I plan to retire this piece of memorabilia and replace it with the Citizen of the Year memorabilia that has been accumulating over the last several weeks.

Thank you!