LAKEVILLE __ The ideal location for a new fire station, the viability of the school budget and the importance of collaboration were among the issues discussed as four candidates for the Lakeville Select Board made their cases to the public Tuesday, March 12.

Incumbent Lorraine Carboni and challengers Maureen Candito, Brynna Donahue and Mark Knox are vying for three seats on the board, which is about to expand to five members. The top three vote-getters will earn seats on the board, for a three-year term, a two-year term and a one-year term respectively. 

The candidates were asked about their views on a potential new fire station construction, a subject that has been discussed in Lakeville for several years.

Carboni, who serves on the Fire Station Building Committee, said she “firmly believes we need a new fire station’’ and hopes to see it constructed on Route 18 portion of the town-owned Ted Williams Camp property. “I hope the committee will bring a good plan to the taxpayers,’’ she said.

Donahue supported a new station but noted that “it doesn’t have to be 100 percent state of the art.’’ Instead, she proposed adding amenities “in phases.’’ She said she would like to see the station built on an open lot area next to Town Hall Candito noted that the town “missed out on the opportunity to make repairs’’ at that time.

Candito said she supports a new station but added that a standalone building brings added costs, which will be a “challenge’’ for the town. “It’s going to be difficult,’’ she said of the financial implications of the station, which she prefers on Route 18. “We’re just skating by financially.’’

Knox said he also supports a new station, which he would like to see on Route 18.

Candidates were asked their views on the request for Lakeville taxpayers to pay $1.1 million toward the Freetown-Lakeville school budget/

Knox urged the schools to be fiscally responsible. “They have a budget,’’ he said. “They need to stick to their budget like the town sticks to its budget.’’

Carboni said that “Lakeville can’t afford $1.1 million,’’ but said that school and town officials were working together to reduce that amount.

Donahue, who serves on the regional school committee, said she believes the committee will consider lowering that allocation at their March 13 meeting,

“Hard decisions have to be made,’’ she said. “I don’t think the full amount is appropriate.’’

Candito said that “every request is a starting point’’ for ongoing discussions. “It’s not what we want, it’s what we can afford,’’ she said. 

The candidates were also asked their views on the importance of collaboration.

The “new dynamic’’ of working with five members instead of the previous three will be “good for the town,’’ Knox said. “It takes three people to pass something,’’ he said, which will require “selling [one’s] point to two other people.’’

Carboni noted that being on the board requires a "team approach.’’ “We're all invested, we're all team members," she said. "I'm a listener," she added. 

Candito said “it’s about respectful discourse’’ and to “be able to be influenced by other facts’’ rather than being an unmovable “stone pillar.’’

Donahue said that “everyone needs to be heard,’’ even though not all ideas can come to fruition. “I can get passionate,’’ she said, “but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.’’ What matters, she added, is “how you use that passion to move forward.’’