Rochelle Agneta, a first-time candidate for mayor, is a small business owner and community volunteer who grew up in Peabody, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Massachusetts First Citizens for Truth recently interviewed Peabody Mayoral Candidate Rochell Agneta about her background, why she is running for mayor, and her plans to improve the city if elected on November 7th.
This interview will be published as a series of articles, each featuring one question and answer.
Question:
Transparency and access to information are vital to residents. Compared to other cities, Peabody does a good job of communicating information. The website is comprehensive and user-friendly, the social media is current, and Peabody TV is full of content (although I couldn’t find a link on the city website). First, who is in charge of communications for the city? Is it a specific job title? And second, how will you best utilize this resource as Mayor?
Agneta:
First of all, I don’t think we’re transparent as a city. I think we’re one of the most untransparent cities there is.
You can see that by pulling up our fiscal budget. It’s very bad. It’s like a high school report of 30 pages. There’s no transparency there at all. And even at that, figures are hidden within other departments. I asked the City Council about a $27,000 expense for Community Development. When they asked the mayor about it, he said it was upkeep for our buildings and maintenance. They asked why it was plugged into one account. And the answer was, well, that’s how it’s always been done. But again, you’re talking $27,000 that we have no idea where it went.
Regarding the website, I don’t find it that great. Just last week, there was a meeting on the new safety building that Bettencourt wants to have built. The School Committee gave up part of the Higgins Junior High School land to build it. The meeting was open to residents, but when I went on the website, I couldn’t even find what time it was supposed to be held. There was nothing about it on the website. My friend, who’s on the zoning board, asked me why I didn’t go to the meeting. I told him I couldn’t find the information on the website. This is someone who works in the city, and he had no idea when the meeting was. He had to reach out to other people to find out. Meetings like that should be on our website.
Our website’s not transparent. How would I utilize it? I would have information daily that would be kept current with what’s going on in the city. The people of Peabody have no idea what’s happening in their town.
To learn more about Rochelle Agneta please visit her Facebook campaign page, Agneta for Change in Peabody.
Look for our next article in this series coming soon.
VOTE NOVEMBER 7TH!
By Citizens for Truth
Massachusetts First 
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