Maureen Candito is a former Lakeville Town Administrator, and now she is running for Select Board.

As a single mom, Candito said her time is valuable and she has to feel truly invested when taking on extra responsibilities. Now that she works remotely, she said she has time to help run Lakeville, which adheres to the culture of volunteering she said she grew up with.

“I love the educational aspect,” Candito said. “I love being able to bring government to the people.”

Because of her experience serving on boards in town and working closely with the Select Board as Lakeville Town Administrator from July 2019 to October 2020, Candito said she will “hit the ground running” if she wins the election. 

Throughout her career and education, Candito said she has gained experience in budgeting, human resources, town operations, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Candito holds a Massachusetts Certified Public Purchasing Official designation. That means she has met requirements signaling her knowledge of the state’s standards for purchasing regulated items including property and construction services.

With an eye toward keeping expenses low, Candito wants to sort big town projects into “want-to-have” and “have-to-have” groups.

The fire station is a “have-to-have” project, Candito said. She said a possible addition to the Senior Center is a “want-to-have” at the moment, but it is good to plan it in advance.

Candito said she likes to share information and let people know what’s happening at a given time. That is why she wants to partner with neighboring towns to negotiate the MBTA housing requirements to maintain Lakeville’s rural character.

“The state has very different ideas about what they want to do,” Candito said. “I want to partner with other towns to really talk to the state about the one-size-fits-all requirements they’re pushing down on the people of Lakeville.”

Candito said Lakeville Hospital owners Rhino Capital need to “figure out what makes sense for them” regarding uses for the land allowed under town zoning codes, but she does not want to see the land filled with dense housing.

An influx of housing units would “force us to either revamp our schools or come up with some new options for supporting kids in our schools, which is extremely expensive.”

Regarding how the town can grow responsibly, Candito would like to see development along Route 18 and Route 105, near most of the pre-existing commercial and industrial properties in town. New development would add revenue to town accounts, easing the tax burden on other revenue sources.

“The people of Lakeville do want growth, they just don’t want massive warehouses,” Candito said. “We’re going to have to find a happy medium somewhere.”