Four candidates running for three Rec Commission seats

The Recreation Commission is Weston’s other contested race for this year’s town election, with four candidates vying for three seats.

Weston’s annual town election is Saturday, May 2, at Town Hall, 11 Town House Road. Voters will be asked to consider Arthur Gibson, George Manley, Nick Warren and incumbent Chikaebere Toure at the ballot box.

The Observer interviewed three of the candidates, and the following interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity. Toure declined to be interviewed for this story.

Tell us a little about yourself and why you’re running.

Arthur Gibson, 42: I love sports. Growing up being sort of a shy kid, it allowed me to grow a bit, be on teams and get out there. I’ve always used recreation and sports as a way to build confidence. Now, I coach my son’s basketball and baseball teams, and just really enjoy that, and got a lot out of it as a kid.

George Manley, 49: I lived in the Berkshires for the last 12 years. I’ve only been in town for a year and a half, but I was elected to the Parks and Recreation Commission [in Stockbridge] and I really enjoyed it. I was drawn to the role because I have a child that is a kindergartener that uses the after-school activities at the Rec. Center. I live adjacent to the trail system. I’m a horseback rider and I love the fact that we have that program in town. There were just a lot of things that connected for me personally, but it’s also an amazing way to get to know the town and everybody that lives in it.

Nick Warren, 41: We moved to Weston back in 2017 right after we had our first kid; we lived in the city for quite a while. Now we have three kids, 9, 7 and 5. The main reason for moving to Weston was because of the schools and the community.

I was asked by Adam [King], who’s been on it for six years, and he’s stepping down. I’ve been involved in kids sports and different community activities for a while, and gotten to know Adam through that, through Cub Scouts and those types of things. He thought I might be interested, and here I am. I’m finding a way to give back, get more involved.

What municipal or other qualifying experiences do you have?

Manley: I was an executive in the fashion industry for 13 years in New York City, and that has translated into an e-com startup, entrepreneurial life for the last 10 years, and I also do commercial real estate development.

I’m currently on the strategic planning committee here in town with the superintendent’s office. In Stockbridge, I was on the board of the Laurel Hill Association, which is a village beautification nonprofit. I was also on the library board in Stockbridge. I’ve been on the board of the Waterkeeper Alliance … and I was on the board of directors for the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

Warren: I own and run two businesses, so hopefully I can parlay some of that over to this, but no previous municipal experience. This is my first foray into it, so I’m kind of learning as I go, but excited to see what it’s all about. I would say our family is a power user of the Rec. [Department].

While my children were at Red Barn Nursery, I was the treasurer. One of the major projects that we handled was the complete rebuild of the playground there. The other board that I’m currently part of is for an organization called Birthday Wishes, which throws birthday parties for kids who are in shelters all around Massachusetts.

I coach my son’s baseball team, my wife coaches field hockey and we’re obviously involved in a lot of other things in a user capacity.

Gibson: I’ve been on the Little League board since 2020. My experience ties to sports and coaching. I organized a co-rec softball team for eight years when we were living in Boston. In high school, I organized my fall baseball team senior year. I think we’ve done a good job [in Little League] getting a lot of volunteerism from parents to coach.

There’s talk about wants and needs in the town budget, how will you help the Recreation Commission handle that?

Warren: I can name a million things that would be awesome to have, but you have to balance that with reality – both current needs and then future needs, and finding a balance with that and what things will actually get used, what will have the biggest impact.

The programming they have now is awesome, and my kids absolutely love it. The town camps, all that stuff is really well organized, well-run. I will do whatever I can do to enhance that and refine it even more. I’m in real estate, so I know how much that can add value-wise to the appeal of a town, and I want to make sure that we choose the right things to move forward.

Gibson: I think our town’s boards should be a little bit more aligned with the Recreation Commission, and I think they are in some places, but in my community I grew up in, the recreation group did the lines for the baseball team. It helps build the community a bit to align some of these organizations or these groups.

There’s a ton of spaces that exist that most people in Weston don’t know about, and [we should] be able to broaden that and make sure those are available. I don’t think people know how much certain things get used. I won’t call it a controversial issue, but with the pickleball courts going in, we backtracked onto fixing the basketball courts and the tennis courts, and those are very heavily used. Those were really a side note in some of those decisions.

Manley: I run all of my decision making, whether it’s for a nonprofit board or one of my for-profit companies, the same way. You weigh all the feedback that comes in on a given issue, and the majority wins, whether it’s my personal opinion or not. You have to balance that with the understanding that sometimes the majority of the voices coming in might actually be a minority of the people in town.

I think it’s reaching out and getting other perspectives, even if people don’t want to volunteer their opinion. It’s important as a board member to seek out those opinions, so that you can get a well-rounded idea of what a crossgroup of town constituents’ needs are. The two largest groups in this town, and they’re both growing, are families and the elderly, and to me, those two groups are the groups that I think need to be paid attention to the most – not to marginalize any other groups. At least with Parks and Rec, it’s a lot of servicing those two groups.

How can you help the Recreation Commission navigate this?

Gibson: My kids are 9 and 11. They play three sports in town, so we’re on every field, every court throughout the year. I sit with parents on the sidelines and I talk to them. I have a passion for some of this stuff. I want to get the best use out of them.

Manley: I first want to understand how they’re doing it now and keep in place what’s working, and then expand on that in ways that aren’t too controversial. The most important thing, which is also the hardest thing to do, especially in a busy working town, is communication – to get the word out. I run an AI company, so it’s very easy these days to spin up these communication options, whether it’s a chat board or an email thread or whatever that you can keep on a continuous speed to make sure that information is constantly flowing out to the people that benefit from it. It’s the same thing I would want to do with reaching out to other people about offering more programming at the Rec. Center. There’s got to be a way to get out to them that’s efficient and inexpensive, that we’re probably just missing right now.

Warren: You’ve got to have a reality mindset because I’m sure we’re gonna hear a lot of ideas. There’s a lot of people with good opinions and suggestions out there, and it’s helping filter through those, figuring out what’s going to have the broadest impact that also makes financial sense. We do have a budget, and we find a way to stick to that. Things that can be impactful for a long time are really important. If we’re going to spend the money, we’re going to make sure that it’s being spent the right way.

Is there anything the Recreation Commission isn’t addressing that it should be?

Warren: When it comes to big projects, [its important that we’re] finding things that are going to be here for a long time if we’re going to put that kind of capital expenditure into it, and get a lot of return on that investment. Just being smart about the different projects and different kinds of programs that the committee is putting out.

Manley: I’ve been really surprised at how well-run this town is, at least from my early perspective. I’ve met with [Town Manager Leon Gaumond], I’ve met with the fire chief, the assistant fire chief, met with the building inspector, met with the town clerk, met with a lot of the people that run important parts of the town, and I’ve been impressed by their dedication, and in a lot of cases, their long service, that’s usually a sign that a town’s doing things right.

Gibson: They did a good job taking that decision from pickleball at Burchard and turning it into updating courts. There’s some upcoming decisions with the High School and the Middle School in some of the locations of buildings that I’m curious about. I want to make sure we get a full consensus before we make some of those decisions, given my kids are moving into middle school, and will be in high school in the next 10 years. I think those decisions need to be made carefully, because, honestly, you’re affecting the most important part of their life. Those are really turning points, and if you don’t do that well, they come off with a bad experience. They don’t like school, or they get distracted. Regardless of recreation, I think you have to do it in a judicious way that represents groups that are going to be affected the most.

Why are you the best candidate?

Manley: The reason why I think I deserve the role is because I’ve done this before in another town. I deeply believe in a civic duty, and being a part of your town on a volunteer basis shows you have a commitment to the community. I’m a great listener. I love meeting people and networking and understanding a cross-section of opinions. Those things have served me well in all aspects of my life so far, so I think the town would appreciate somebody who’s not biased and doesn’t have entrenched feelings about the way the town should be because I’m wide open.

Gibson: I’m passionate about it. I’m on the fields. I have the domain knowledge because I’m there, and I feel like it’s easy for me to talk about it. I remember growing up being on fields and playing, and those are key points to my growth. I really want my sons and their friends to be able to have that ability to have a little bit of freedom on the field and just get out there and hang out with each other, not necessarily just sitting in the classroom. If you don’t get both sides of the fence, sometimes you lose sight later in life. Being healthy and starting that early is a positive thing.

Warren: I have three heavy users in my house, so I can see how much joy it brings them and how important it is to them and their friends and the community as a whole. I have that firsthand experience as a user, which I think is really important. Any kind of business I’m in, I usually need to understand what the product is, before I can say I’m good at executing on it. I have a pretty good understanding of what works and what doesn’t, what kids like, and like I said, it’s been a great program and a huge value-add and huge amenity to the town. I just want to continue that and enhance it any way that I can.