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Q&A: Bosley Makes Her Case at Williamstown Candidates Forum
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
07:00PM / Wednesday, August 23, 2017
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Stephanie Bosley is one of four candidates running for the Democratic nomination for state representative in the 1st Berkshire District.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Stephanie Bosley's last name is well known to observers of the political scene in Northern Berkshire County, and now she is trying to make a name for herself with a run to occupy the 1st Berkshire District seat in the House of Representatives once occupied by her father.
 
On July 12, Bosley participated in a forum hosted by the Williamstown Democratic Town Committee. She fielded questions from the audience and moderator James Mahon, a political science professor at Williams College and the chairman of the committee.
 
Bosley discussed a wide range of issues and promised to bring energy and a long-term commitment to the job.
 
"My dad ... got elected the November before I was born and then was state representative until I was 24," she said. "So I kind of saw the sometimes hard balance of family and being a state representative. … I'm committed. I don't have any plans to move 'upward.' As we were talking about before, I think D.C. is very hot in the summer, and I don't think I could handle that. I like this seat."
 
The Williamstown Democrats held forums with all four Democratic nominees to fill out the unexpired term of deceased state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams. The forums were recorded by the town's community access television station, Willinet.
 
 
iBerkshires.com transcribed those sessions. This is the third in a series of four Q&As sharing the thoughts of the four candidates, who will share the same stage on Sept. 18 in Lanesborough.
 
Opening statement: My love of public policy was influenced by my dad, Dan Bosley, who was a state representative for 24 years. I grew up in the State House. I learned from a very young age what this job entails. I was also able to learn from a very young age how public policy can have a positive effect on the Northern Berkshire region.
 
I remember being a young girl, and we had to go to school to talk with the class about what our parents do for a living. When you're young, a state representative may be a hard thing to explain, but my dad did it well. He said: A state representative is someone who helps the people who live around us and goes to Boston to be their voice.
 
And that is what I hope to do. I hope to speak to you to learn about the issues that are important to you and to be your voice in Boston, to remind Boston that Northern Berkshire is here.
 
I grew up in North Adams in the public school system, and I went to school at UMass-Amherst  for political science. While at UMass, I took advantage of a number of opportunities, such as working in the Donahue Institute, a research institute at the university for the public and private sector. I did a semester-long internship in Washington, D.C., with a grassroots organization called Black Women United for Action. And there we worked with single moms who were looking to advance something in their life. We met them where they were at and worked with them to see what they needed to accomplish to do what they were looking for. I took a social justice class where we did an alternative spring break. And I worked at Soldier On, which is an organization devoted to ending veteran homelessness.
 
Upon graduation, I served with Americorps at the former COTY [Catholic Outreach to Youth] Youth Center in North Adams, and I worked with children, mostly low-income children, and I created educational programming. From there, I continued on to the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass-Boston, and while I was there, I worked for the office of diversity and inclusion. I graduated with a master's in public affairs, and, after doing so, my husband, Josh, and I decided we would make Northern Berkshire our home.
 
Since being back in the Northern Berkshires region, I worked on the grassroots community development level with the Unity youth programs and Northern Berkshire Neighbors programs at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. I've worked on the municipal level with the town of Adams in the Community Development office and managing the housing rehabilitation program. And I've worked on national health issues with the American Cancer Society's programs locally in the Berkshires. I've also worked on the community development level ... with 1Berkshire.
 
I also have a grant-writing certificate from the University of Southern Maine, and I recently completed 1Berkshire's Berkshire Leadership Program.
 
Now I want to share with you my platform, what I plan to do when I'm elected to office.
 
I want to work on our transportation in the region. Sen. [Adam] Hinds has been having discussions about this. I was lucky to attend a workshop he organized with MCLA. And we talked a lot about alternatives to transportation, about public transportation needs, and I would like to continue this conversation. I think if we want to move the region forward economically, clean-energy wise and as a cultural destination, it is important to have transportation that is dependable and affordable and accessible to all the people in Northern Berkshire.
 
While I was at 1Berkshire, one of the things I heard from a variety of employers in different industries was that they had jobs available, but they didn't have the workforce to do the work.
 
So I would like to work with our communities' educational resources to fill those gaps in our workforce. I would also like to work with our educational system to provide workforce training for major industries that we'd like to attract to the area. I think that if we can show major industries that we have a workforce that's trained in Northern Berkshire, then we can attract them to relocate here.
 
I worked for the town of Adams in the Community Development office and the Housing Rehabilitation program, and that program is using Community Block Grant funds to make code improvements to homes. I'll support towns that apply for Community Block Grant funds.
 
I would also like to explore pilot programs we could have in Northern Berkshire to improve the housing stock in Northern Berkshire County. I think we have plentiful housing stock, and I think it would attract young people to the area if they knew they could get an affordable home and make the home improvements they would like.
 
I also support Rep. Cariddi's bill to create a pilot program in Northern Berkshire for recent college graduates to invest in homes.
 
As we know, we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world if not the most beautiful. And I will work to preserve that. … With all that is going on at the federal level, it is now more important than ever that the state representative of the Northern Berkshire region is a steward of the land. Part of that is to protect our local farms. Farms protect open space. They bring healthy, fresh food to the region and keep it closer to home. Two-thirds of our water recharge areas are found on farms. I support Rep. Cariddi's bill to double the tax credit to dairy farms. This will keep our dairy costs low and keep it local.
 
I also support clean energy initiatives that are affordable, efficient and equitable for Northern Berkshires. Homegrown energy saves cities and towns money while giving us more options for power. It is also is a resource more people are looking for. A strong clean energy market in our region enhances our attractiveness.
 
There have been a lot of recent discussions regarding educational funding, and any time we can cut down on administrative costs and focus that money on a child's education is a good thing. Our declining population combined with the age of our population means we have to find creative solutions to funding our public education. The Berkshire County Education Task Force has received recommendations from the Donahue Institute and has conducted community meetings across the county to hear from educators and parents of school-aged children. I look forward to hearing their findings and working with school districts to implement their recommendations.
 
Education should be accessible to anyone when they are ready to learn. In order to be trained for new skills sets for today's economy, we need to develop baseline programs that enhance our educational process. I will continue to support and increase funding for our GED, literacy and English as a Second Language programs.
 
Broadband. It's something that we've been talking about for a long time, and it's something that we need to advance our economy and also to attract young people to the area. I will work with the Massachusetts Broadband Institute to ensure that towns have the resources and options that they need, and I will work with each town to support their Last Mile projects.
 
The opioid epidemic has spread far and wide. I think that we probably all know someone who has been affected. And I think we must look at addiction as a full picture of treating addiction and fighting drug abuse. I am dedicated to expanding our mental health services in Northern Berkshire, detox units that will help with recovery and affordable sober living homes that accept public insurance. I will continue to support law enforcement and the Berkshire County Drug Task Force. It is critical that we continue to fund organizations that implement preventive measures, such as the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, the Berkshire Community Action Council and the Brien Center.
 
I know that Rep. Cariddi's shoes are big to fill. She was a friend of mine and a mentor, and I always imagined when I ran for public office she'd be there to continue mentoring me. So I want to work on fulfilling her vision for the Northern Berkshire region. I mentioned the pilot program for recent college graduates and I mentioned the dairy tax credit. I also will work on the legislation to establish a cultural corridor from the Clark Art Institute through North Adams, including Mass MoCA and the Route 8 corridor in Adams. And I also will work to establish a Women's Rights History Trail, which shall include sites that tell the story of struggle for women's suffrage, such as the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony in Adams.
 
In closing, one of the things that's really important to me throughout this campaign and if elected is that we have conversations with the people of Northern Berkshire about the things that are important to you and the issues that affect your lives. I may not always agree, but I will always listen. I think this is an important part of politics that we're missing. We've seen it at the federal level with backdoor meetings, and we need to have conversations with each other. I'm dedicated to having those conversations with you.
 
I didn't notice elected office in your list of achievements. This will be your first run for elective office. In addition to your father's footsteps and Gail's memory, why pick this particular time to make that run? And what kind of strengths do you bring? You say you'll listen and so on, but what kind of political strengths do you think you can bring to operating in the State House.
 
Bosley: As you mentioned, I haven't been elected to a political office, and I think that now is the time for me to run for this office because of the experience I have. And now felt like the right time in my professional life and my personal life.
 
I think that some of the strengths that I have are: I already know people in Boston; I think that will be helpful. Like you said, I listen, and I have the conversational skills an elected person needs to have. I also think that I'm energetic and young and enthusiastic. I'm really good at research, which I've found is good in this process and for an elected person. So, yeah, I really think I'm ready for this opportunity.
 
Transportation … I'm wondering if you could mention three initiatives you think are workable that you might be able to achieve to improve the level of transportation from Williamstown to the east. I know many years ago, there once actually was a train that left from the bottom of Cole Avenue and went all the way to Boston and Albany. Ladies in hats and white gloves jumped on that train. I don't want the white gloves, but I really would like an easier way to get to Boston. I've had the experience of trying to take Amtrak from Pittsfield in the middle of the winter, from the bus station, where they don't announce the trains and all you can do is stand by the track and hope the train that's coming is the one that you're waiting for. There has to be more that we can do, and I'm wondering what you're thinking about.
 
Bosley: The type of transportation that I was referencing was more local public transportation, but I think that it's important to have something to get to Boston as well. One of the things that Sen. Hinds is having conversations about is a rail to New York City. I would also like us to explore, if we're going to invest in railway, I'd like to see us explore the possibility of adding a Boston route to that.
 
The things that I was talking about when I referenced transportation were some creative thinking towards solving our local transportation, so the bike path is a great way for people … if you work in North Adams and live in Williamstown, you could theoretically hop on the bike path and get where you need to go.
 
I also think we need to focus our energy on more routes and more accessibility for people trying to get to Pittsfield. I think that that's one of the things we need to focus on. Right now to get to Pittsfield on a BRTA bus, it takes about an hour and 15 minutes, an hour and a half, and it's $4.50.
 
As far as the bus to Boston, I know one of the conversations we're having in that workshop I mentioned at MCLA was express routes. We talked about it in terms of the BRTA, so if you need to go from North Adams to Pittsfield, an express lane instead of going to North Adams, Adams, Cheshire and stopping. I think that could potentially work for getting to Boston as well. I know that's Peter Pan, so something would have to be arranged with Peter Pan to make that happen.
 
I wanted to ask you about automatic voter registration. Have you looked into that issue? What do you think of it?
 
Bosley: I don't know that much about automatic voter registration — enough to share my views on it. But I'll definitely look into it. I'd love to connect with you afterward to get your email address or telephone number, and I'll follow up with you on that.
 
There's been a lot of talk recently about problems with the Legislature coming up with a budget, having a budget everybody would agree on. What are your thoughts about compromise with other people, compromise across the aisle? We've got a Republican governor we have to deal with. What are your thoughts about the business of governing and the process of governing a state where it's largely Democratic but we have a Republican governor?
 
Bosley: As far as the governor goes, I think that the governor and our legislative bodies need to be reminded sometimes that Northern Berkshire is here and we have funding needs. Usually, in the grand scheme of things, the amount of funding we're looking for is smaller than what Boston will need. I'm definitely prepared to advocate for what we need here.
 
I'll work well with the governor to get state programs out here that will help us, but I definitely will hold his feet to the fire when it comes to social justice issues or issues that are really important to Northern Berkshire, that I think need to be passed.
 
There's an organization called Raise Up Massachusetts … Two months ago, it met with Rep. Cariddi, and she endorsed their platform which really consists of two big things. One is a road to a $15 minimum wage in Massachusetts, and the other is paid family and medical leave for workers at certain sized firms in Massachusetts. We've got bills in the House and Senate on this. It really hasn't gone anywhere. What do you think? And what if Speaker DeLeo said, ‘I don't like this very much'? What would you do?
 
Bosley: On the minimum wage, I don't think we can sustain ourselves on people who can't afford basic human needs, like food and housing, with a minimum-wage job. That's not realistic, and we're better than that as a state. So I'm definitely for a raise in the minimum wage. I am aware of the effect it would have on small business, so I'd like to have a conversation with small business about things the state could do to help with that.
 
Paid family leave, I think is important. I've worked with women who have had children and had to take pay cuts or not be paid. And I think that there's so much research that shows women fall behind in the workforce, we get passed over for promotions, we aren't able to excel in our careers. So that's definitely something I support.
 
I wanted to ask you what you see about the effectiveness of local control when it comes to putting gas lines through our communities. I don't think there's one coming through Williamstown and North Adams, but local control, people protesting it, is that still effective?
 
Bosley: I can't speak for the representatives from Springfield and things like that, but that's one of the things I want to be dedicated to: listening to the population in Northern Berkshire. I wouldn't support a pipeline coming through the Northern Berkshires anyway, but if there was another issue people were protesting about, I would take that very seriously and have conversations with the protesters and sometimes even join them if I felt I needed to.
 
I'm wondering what are you thoughts about the marijuana legislation that's recently been crafted, particularly regulating where it can be sold, who will decide whether it's the townspeople or municipality and the tax that was added on after the referendum was passed.
 
Bosley: I know the budget hit the governor's desk, and I haven't looked at what the tax is now that it's hit the governor's desk. I think that the people want marijuana. They want it sold. And I think cities and towns should be able to decide whether they want it sold in their cities and towns.
 
I'm really dedicated to learning more about some of the issues in the House around how we're going to decide where it's sold and the tax. Although, I'm assuming by the time the election happens for this seat the tax already will be decided on.
 
There's been a lot of controversy obviously nationally and in the state about health care and health insurance. There have been movements toward a single-payer system. We have health insurance in Massachusetts. At the federal level, we all know the struggles that are going on. What is your thought about what we can do to improve, particularly, the funding of health care. Are you in favor of a single-payer system? What's your thinking on that?
 
Bosley: I think that single-payer makes sense. I like to always use my grandmother as an example. I don't know that she likes me to use her as an example. But my grandmother has a gastroenterologist, a PCP, an eye doctor, a cardiologist. She has this whole series of doctors, and each doctor looks at her as 'Jane from the cardiologist' or 'Jane from the eye doctor.' And I think that doesn't make sense. I think that when we look at people that way, we are often times having them take more tests than are necessary. We are often then charging the system more because someone has to put out that bill and we have to pay it. And even for record-keeping, it doesn't help that there's not a central record. I think single-payer would help with all of that. And it would help people get health care when they want it instead of when they need it.
 
Overall, it would save money because people would be going to the doctor's when they first coughed and not when they have double pneumonia.
 
Right now there are two pairs of bills in the Legislature that take two different approaches. One of them is a pair of study bills that say let's appoint a commission for three years, look at how much it would cost to implement a single-payer system and how much we'd be able to save. Some people say we could save on the order of 10 or 15 percent and cover everybody. Then there's an action set of bills that says, ‘Let's go right to it. Let's take the money we spend on Medicare and Medicaid at the state level, add a health payroll tax and put it on all employers.' Assuming — and it could be rightly — that that tax could be less than what these employers are paying for health insurance if they're providing it right now to their employees. Would you support both bills? One or the other? Or do you think the study bill is just a way of kicking the can down the road?
 
Bosley: I kind of like — it's Rep. [Jennifer] Benson who has the bill for the three-year study — I kind of like that bill because I don't want to see a system we just throw together and we kind of have what's happening with Obamacare where people say, 'Oh, it didn't work. I couldn't go on the website. My bill didn't come right.' Part of that is just the Republicans, and part of that is people didn't have success using the system and now want to get rid of it. I want to avoid that. I do like the bill where we do a  study. I don't know that we have to look at it for three years. If we can maybe look at one or two years and figure it out from there it will be more efficient.
 
I wonder what your position is on … the Safe Communities program, which a number of communities in Massachusetts have been adopting or any other safeguards against the deportation of immigrants who may be here illegally but have committed no crime. I read recently about someone in the eastern part of the state who was deported to Ireland after being here for 18 years, had worked as an electrician, had committed no crimes, had no record or whatever. There has to be something other than sending him back home.
 
Bosley: I definitely support Safe Communities and sanctuary cities. I think it's sickening what we're doing to immigrants, if I'm being honest. Our country was built on immigrants, and now we're deciding certain people are going to be sent back? It doesn't make sense to me. And I also think that becoming a U.S. citizen is difficult, and we should look at making it easier. I definitely support immigrants, and I know that there are cities and towns doing great things by making themselves sanctuary cities.
 
I'd like to know what you think of the millionaire's tax … and down the road maybe a graduated income tax in Massachusetts?
 
Bosley: The millionaire's tax I like a lot. It's going to be a referendum question, so in November 2018, everyone in this room can vote on it. But I think that, especially for communities like ours, it will help with education and transportation, which are things that we need money coming back in the system for.
 
The second one, I don't know much about, but I'll look into it and get back to you.
 
You mentioned the Berkshire County Education Task Force, and across the state, districts, especially districts that are losing population like ours in this part of the state, are being encouraged to regionalize, encouraged to save on their back room expenses, their administrative expenses. And some are talking about mergers. But what happens, it seems to an awful lot of people, when you do this consolidation is that some communities lose out. Recently, we saw with Adams-Cheshire that when a beloved elementary school has to close, people get upset and they get distrustful of all kinds of initiatives that are supposed to save money down the road. On paper, it looks like all these things make sense. How would you approach selling it to people who are scared that this means local control is going out the window? 'It sounds good, but I don't trust those people over there to manage my school. I want to manage it locally.' What do you do in that situation?
 
Bosley: That's a good one. It's one I've thought about a lot because all of the writing on the wall is pushing us toward regionalization of our schools. I think the Berkshire County Education Task Force is doing their homework and looking at impacts, looking at the impacts on communities. I'd like to see all of that to make sure communities aren't missing out when we make those decisions, that kids aren't on a bus for an hour to get to school or a small hilltown community doesn't feel like they're a part of the school's culture because they lost their local school.
 
One thing I will say about the Adams-Cheshire merger is they did keep staff, which I thought was great. The staff are moving to that school, and there will be a friendly face for parents and students. I think in making those decisions, we need to make sure staff are able to stay.
 
In terms of selling it, I think that if I feel comfortable in it, I'll be able to have honest conversations with constituents, but I'd love to do the homework on it to make sure it's a good idea and we're not regionalizing a school just to make a couple of extra bucks or making decisions that are going to adversely affect the student population.
 
What do you think of joint management of municipalities, where they have one city manager. … Town mergers, where they have one city manager for two towns.
 
Bosley: I haven't studied it enough to have an opinion. I can definitely look into it and get back to you. … I know we've seen it a little with the dispatching, but I'd like to do my homework before I form an opinion.
 
What you said about broadband at the top tonight sounded good, and everyone wants to support the last mile. But a lot of really smart people have been working on this for many years now. And there are a lot of towns in Berkshire County that have fewer than 1,000 residents and a lot of space between one dwelling and the other, and nobody's been able to figure out how to get that last mile because it turns out it's more than a mile in many places. It's simple in some places, but even Williamstown is pretty big on a map, and there are going to be a lot of places in Williamstown where it's tough to get Time-Warner Cable or whatever they're called now — may not want to come up there. This is an economic development issue right? Everybody sees that a place like Berkshire County, which has wonderful quality of life, wonderful views and everything like that, at the very same time is shut out of the online economy because it can't get fast enough Internet for a lot of commercial and industrial uses. What are we going to do?
 
Bosley: It's definitely a challenge, and the reason we haven't seen broadband here yet is we have so much land mass. The last I read, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute is looking at ways to improve the infrastructure so then a provider can come into rural areas, and I'd love to have a conversation with them about very rural areas and what that's going to look like when they decide to do that.
 
So does that mean they string cable underground? Do they put it on poles?
 
Bosley: To be honest, I'm not sure.
 
I thought I understood the state already had put a trunk line for institutions to use like Williams College or hospitals in this area. We just need somebody to develop it more to put it into people's homes. Is that an impossible task? What are the problems with that?
 
[Moderator James Mahon]: If the trunk line goes to Williams College, that makes it easier for the central part of Williamstown than it does for Sandisfield.
 
Bosley: These conversations are more like New Ashford, Hancock and the more rural hilltowns.
 
You broached one of my favorite topics, Spectrum. Here in Northern Berkshire, we don't have a high-def channel from Boston, and it drives me nuts. If you are elected, we won't be able to see what you do everyday. We get a couple of the old analog channels. We're victims of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which lumps us in with Albany. It drives me nuts every season of the year, whether it's Red Sox games, Patriots games, we get bumped. But for news, even NECN was supposed to go high-def — that was promised, they said they were going to do it, and they never did. It's probably a federal issue, but if there was enough noise out of Boston from the western part of the state, maybe we could do something about it. Again, it drives me nuts that we don't have a 24-hour station, high-def out of our state capitol.
 
Bosley: it drives me nuts, too, especially during Patriots games. I think you're probably right in that it is a federal issue, but it's definitely something that the legislature could advocate for.
 
On broadband, that's the conversations we need to keep having and also transportation, finding ways to get to Albany, ways to get to Boston, ways to get to New York City if that's where you need to go.
 
 I was interested in getting solar paneling on the roof of my house and was told by a company calling me from Google in Colorado that the roof gets too shaded by 1 o'clock, and I'd have to put it on the lawn, which I didn't want to do. My question is, is it impossible to think that the whole town, say Williamstown, could have a solar panel garden.
 
[Audience member]: There's one at the [Williamstown] dump.
 
But I don't get the benefit of that. How about all of us having the solar-panel power through the town. Is that too complicated?
 
Bosley: It's interesting you bring that up because right now we used to have the SREC program in Massachusetts that incentivized people to get solar panels. That program has ended and they're talking about a SMART [Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target] Program that I feel is not smart. It kind disincentivizes solar and does not offer incentives for community- and shared-solar, like you're talking about. That's one of things I'd like to see revised so we could have opportunities in rural areas like here where we have more trees and maybe less sunlight is hitting us, so you could participate in something like that.
 
We're a long way from the State House out here. And it's hard to get the attention of people on Beacon Hill. One of the ways the Berkshire legislators have been able to do that is to get lots of seniority, like your dad. Twenty-some years in the Legislature, got on all the committees … that makes a person from out here important. But it's a really hard life. As you know, you spend an awful lot of time on the Mass Pike or Route 2. … So, if you could be as effective as you possibly could be for the Northern Berkshire District, it would mean staying for a long time. It would mean riding that Route 90 back and forth for a really long time.
 
Bosley: Why do you think I want improved transportation to Boston?
 
But I mean this is something everybody faces in the Berkshire delegation. So are you in it for the long haul? Or is this a stepping stone for you to bigger and brighter things, maybe in D.C.? We need to know.
 
Bosley: That's a great question. I'm in it for the long haul. I think that's one of the advantages of being young: I have a lot of time to spend in there. My dad was a state representative. He got elected the November before I was born and then was state representative until I was 24. So I kind of saw the sometimes hard balance of family and being a state representative. … I kind of understand that, that it's a big time commitment and you have to travel three hours to Boston and stay and travel three hours back. During the budget, you're there for maybe a couple of weeks. I'm committed. I don't have any plans to move ‘upward.' As we were talking about before, I think D.C. is very hot in the summer, and I don't think I could handle that. I like this seat.
 
Where do you stand on charter schools?
 
Bosley: I think that charter schools can be a good opportunity for students who can't succeed in a traditional public school. Full disclosure, my best friend works for BArT and she does great things. She talks to the kids about going to college and helps set them up. I think that in an area as small as ours and with the issues in funding that we're seeing educationally, it's difficult for charter schools to come into an environment like that. We're kind of good with BArT for Northern Berkshire County.
And I think that we have to look at the way reimbursements work for students who choose to go to a charter school over a public school. It seems like we haven't really figured that out yet.
 
Two years ago, we had a question about relaxing the cap on charter schools, and it was defeated. One of the arguments of the people who defeated it said: It's just taking money away from the public school system and lavishing it on relatively few charter schools. If we have a lot more of them, we're just going to be draining a lot more. Do you agree with that argument?
 
Bosley: I don't disagree with it. I think BArT does great things for our community, and it's a good option. But I think when we look at Northern Berkshire and the things that are happening funding-wise for public schools, I think another charter public school coming into the area could potentially drain more funds from our public school system.
 
Everybody in Berkshire County knows McCann is one of the jewels of the county. But we also think, everyone who goes to McCann and gets a two- or four-year degree afterward gets a job and goes somewhere else. Yet, we have a shortage of electricians and plumbers, people will tell you in Berkshire County. Do you think the trades are too hard to get into in Berkshire County? Do you think people aren't paid enough? Why is it we have a wonderful school with people who move on to trades — more than just plumbers and electricians — and yet we have a shortage of those kinds of tradespeople here?
 
Bosley: McCann is a wonderful resource, and Josh, my husband [a McCann Tech teacher], one of the things he's great at is having those conversations about, 'Hey, you can get a four-year degree and then come back to the area' or ‘You can get a job at General Dynamics and they'll pay for your education.' I think some of the issues we're having with keeping young people in the area is the way we talk to young people about the area. I think that we need to be positive. It's a great place to live. It's a great place to raise a family. Housing costs are relatively low. And we have employers who have job needs. I think if we tweak some of the things I discussed previously like the transportation needs, have some programs to improve the housing stock of homes people potentially want to buy, we could keep people here.
 
[Bosley's husband, Josh Meczywor, was present for the forum and was asked]: How do you feel about Stephanie taking on the three-hour commute to Boston?
 
Meczywor: To put something in perspective with Stephanie, this isn't something she decided to do yesterday. This is something she put a lot of thought into. And to her credit, and I think this says a lot about who Stephanie is, when she was first thinking about this, she came to me and said, ‘What do you think? … Because if you say no, I'm not going to do it. It's just as much your decision as mine.'
 
The reason she's had a lot of success in her career is that she approaches everything with the approach that she's not the only voice in the room. She talks to other people. She weighs their opinion. And my response was, ‘I'm 100 percent all in. You have to do this. You were made for this.' And, sure, I'm not going to see her as often as I might like to, but maybe I'll make the sacrifice and go see a Patriot game or a Red Sox game or something like that.
 
Bosley: Thank you all so much for being here and asking these questions. If you asked me a question and I didn't have the answer right away, I'd love to have your email address so I can follow up. My website is www.bosleyforstaterep.com
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