The Times They Are A-Changin’

Often we do not see change happening right in front of us. For example, we do not see our children growing day to day or minute to minute. Instead, one day we wake up and they have grown, almost as if it happened instantly. They are suddenly taller and outgrowing their clothes — one day crawling and the next day walking. If you are older like I am, one day your child is a baby and the next day he is 27 years old and living in a different state.

Christine Smith

Other changes, however, are sudden, immediate and obvious. It is that immediate change that is happening in Canton right now. 2022 certainly is a year of change for Canton. Charlie Aspinwall, Canton’s town administrator for the past six years, announced recently that he would be retiring in September. Canton Town Planner Laura Smead is also moving on from her position in Canton after accepting a job in the private sector. And Ken Berkowitz, a member of the Canton Police Department for 30 years and its chief for the past 17 years, announced his retirement as of June 15.

While day-to-day life in Canton without any one of these people would be significant, losing all three public servants at once is a major shift. The town administrator, of course, runs the town on a day-to-day basis and implements decisions voted on by our elected Select Board. While it’s not as long of a tenure as our previous town administrator — Bill Friel, who worked for Canton for 25 years — six years is still a substantial length of time and represents stability in the town administration. A new town administrator will bring a change to how the administrative office functions, to the tone of town government, and to matters coming before the Select Board.

Smead has been with Canton also for about six years. She secured countless grants and led the town through its ambitious Master Planning process, among countless other accomplishments. Without her tireless work, it is unlikely that Canton would have received grants from the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, achieved Green Community status, established a Housing Trust, pushed for Municipal Energy Aggregation and more. She did the work of at least two people and those will be large shoes to fill.

Chief Berkowitz has been the face of the Canton Police Department for what seems like forever. I was surprised to read he had been promoted to chief in 2005 because I thought he had been chief since I moved to Canton in 1994! Or at least it seemed to me like he had. In addition to serving as the chief law enforcement officer for the town, he was a supportive partner in so many different venues from protests and vigils, to supporting diversity in Canton. Chief Berkowitz seemed to be everywhere. If you look up community policing in the dictionary, I think you would see his picture. The big question I have is what will the neighborhood kids do this summer without “Chillin’ with the Chief?”

Change is not always a bad thing. It makes way for new opinions and new voices, making all of our lives richer. Considering new options and new ways of thinking challenges us and allows us to grow both as individuals and as a community. Without change our country would not be celebrating the first African American female justice of the Supreme Court.

However, other types of change cut very deep. Canton is also suffering through some painful changes. A staple for many Canton readers, Joe DeFelice, a/k/a Man About Canton, ran his last column on March 17 due to terminal illness, as reported in the March 24 edition of the Citizen.

The Citizen will not be quite the same without his column. If you are a regular reader of his column and of mine, you must realize that we probably do not share the same politics. However, differences of opinion and the ability to express those freely is part of what makes this country great. I think that I somehow thought that the Man About Canton column would always be there when I opened up the paper. While I have never met Joe, I wish him Godspeed and send my sincere condolences and prayers to his family.

Canton is also mourning the loss of our former veterans agent, Tony Andreotti. I have read so many tributes to Tony and I am sure there will be many more. I was not lucky enough to have ever met Tony in person, but so many people have shared their memories of him that I feel like I know him. Tony not only was a tireless advocate for veterans; he was also a supporter of all people in Canton, proudly standing with those who stood up to the Westboro Baptist Church’s hateful protest of the CHS production of The Laramie Project in 2009 — just to name one story. Tony’s death leaves a gaping hole in Canton that no one person will ever be able to fill.

Change. It is constant. Let’s support each other with empathy through the painful changes and try to embrace the ones that move our community forward.

Christine Smith is a mother of three, an attorney and longtime Canton resident.

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Posted by Christine Smith on Apr 15 2022. Filed under Featured Content, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.