Finance Committee member Brian Day has experience on the Select Board after finishing a 10-month unexpired term when a board member resigned in 2020, and he’s running again for a full term.

Day decided against running for re-election after the unexpired Select Board term ran out because he and his wife had a newborn baby at home. He decided to serve on the Finance Committee because it requires a lesser time commitment, and he decided to run for Select Board later than the other candidates this year.

“[The decision to run] truly came down to the last four or five days,’” Day said. “Then I realized I wouldn’t think about it so much if I didn’t want to do it.”

Serving on the Finance Committee has kept him up-to-date with town issues since he left the Select Board, Day said.

Day wants to help the town deal with coming changes including MBTA housing and the five-member Select Board, an expansion from the current three, slated to begin with the 2024 town election.

“It felt like a good time to get back in,” Day said. “I have a good working relationship with current Select Board members and a good rapport with the town departments.”

One of Day’s priorities if he wins the election is to prepare Lakeville for the future. He wants to ensure the town is proactive and has plans prepared for preserving its rural character, rather than reacting to changing regulations.

Regarding plans for the Lakeville Hospital site, Day said the town’s options are limited because Rhino Capital privately owns the property.

“We still have some say, but not as much as we’d like to have,” Day said of what could be built on the site. “I’m nervous about dense housing going there, not because I don’t want people living in town, but it’s the potential immediate impact it would have to local resources.”

Dense housing would add lots of students into the school district, and the property tax from a housing development on the site would not provide enough revenue to cover added costs, Day said.

Day prefers to collaborate in order to find the best solution for the town for a given issue. He wants everyone, from fellow Select Board members to Lakeville residents, to feel heard.

“There are a lot of people who have good ideas, but by the time they get an opportunity to present it at Town Meeting or a Select Board meeting, emotions are already super high,” Day said. “At the end of the day, we’re still neighbors, we still have to go home and live with each other. So, I really don’t want to see drop-down, knock-out meetings that just devolve. I want to see progress.”