Meet Middleboro Select Board candidate Brian Giovanoni

Brian Giovanoni may be seeking only his second term on the Select Board, but he is a public service veteran.

He previously served nine years on the School Committee and was even a member of the committee that studied the possibility of a casino coming to town nearly 20 years ago.

In all that time, he said, “I maybe missed 10 meetings,’’ he said. Showing up matters, he said, even during a time when meetings can be viewed via streaming. 

“You’ve got to sit in that room to see what’s going on,’’ he said. In person, he said, body language is more visible and can be informative.

He hopes to be reelected to continue what he described as a solid period for the town.

He is seeking one of two available select board seats. His challengers are incumbent William Pike and newcomer Sarah Wilbur. 

“We’ve done really good stuff in the past three years and I want to continue,’’ he said. 

Those accomplishments include bringing on Jay McGrail to replace the retiring Bob Nunes as town manager. That was “an incredible hire.’’ 

Adding firefighters to the department, which will allow the south station to open, and making plans to remove the chemical PFAS from the water system, with a treatment plant scheduled to be constructed, are two other achievements he cited.

But work remains, he said. He is pleased with plans to fix the town’s roads, which he described as “horrendous.’’ The budget for road repairs has doubled in recent years, but even that is “still not enough’’ to do the work, he said. The town needs to look for grants and other sources of funding, he said. 

Giovanoni has been an outspoken critic of the MBTA Communities Act, which requires MBTA communities, including Middleboro, to create districts near their transit stations to allow multi-family housing by right within a half mile of the train station. The town is suing the state, saying Middleboro already complies with the mandate for affordable housing near the station.

Giovanoni has been credited with the “back of the envelope’’ math that led to a projected cost to the town of $125 million to upgrade its public water supply system, almost $200 million to upgrade its sewer system and hundred of millions of dollars to construct new school facilities to accommodate the influx of new students.

“Questions need to be asked,’’ he said. “We need to be heard.’’ 

Giovanoni acknowledges that he can be outspoken. “Passion is passion,’’ he said with a smile. “I’m very passionate about our community.’’

He also enjoys hearing from the public. “I am accessible. I’m around. I want to hear from people.’’

After some years of sometimes heated conversations among board members, Giovanoni said he is pleased with the interactions on the current board.

“We have left and right [wing] on the board and we get along. It’s refreshing. What’s good for the town is that we all work together.’’ 

He hopes people will elect him. “I think I’ve been doing a good job,’’ he said. “I’d like to continue to do a good job.’’

But if voters decide otherwise, he will not go anywhere, he said. 

“If I’m not fortunate enough to get re-elected, I’ll still be at the podium,’’ this time facing the select board as an audience member. “I’ll still ask questions.’’