Marion Recreation Department Director and candidate for the Board of Selectmen, Jody Dickerson, said he decided to run for the board to help repair a disconnect between town officials and residents.

“I’ve noticed, and no one’s at fault here, but there is a lack of communication between the boards and committees in this town,” he said. “We need to have everyone work together in the best interest of the town. If someone in the public approached you, and you could answer their question, that’s huge.”

The upkeep of town facilities have suffered due to the lack of communication in town, he said.

“The Selectmen and the Finance Committee have done a great job at keeping the budget where it needs to be, but the maintenance of the buildings is not taken care of in the way they need to be,” he said.

As Recreation Department Director, Dickerson said he has been working on improving public areas such as Washburn Park, Silvershell Beach and the baseball fields, and would like to see improvements to town buildings like the Music Hall and the Town House.

“Everyone’s looking down the road but we need to look at how we can save now,” he said. “I think we can sharpen our pencils where we spend money. The money is there you just have to be creative and take the time to look.”

Dickerson is running against Ted North for one seat on the board. Born and raised in Marion, Dickerson has served as a town Selectman in the 1990s, as well as on other boards and committees. He was also a Marion police officer and EMT.

After serving as a Selectman in New Hampshire, Dickerson moved back to town a year ago and took over as Director of the town’s Recreation Department.

Given his experience in town government, Dickerson said, if elected, he can “hit the ground running.”

“There’s no learning curve here,” he said. “I wanted to give back to the community and I have the time to do it."

The lack of communication, he said, is also evident with the town’s inflow and infiltration problem in the Village. The problem being that due to the decline of the 100-year old drainage pipes in the Village, clean water has been going into the sewer system.

Engineers from Camp, Dresser and McKee have proposed an eight-year, $27 million plan to fix the roads, and replace the drainage pipes in the center of town.

Dickerson said more research has to be done before the proposal can be approved at a Town Meeting.

“If CDM could have yelled ‘fire’ in a movie theater, it would have caused less chaos,” he said. “I want tests to see what has been done now and the improvements so far. We need to look at what we have, shop around and then decide what is in the best interest of the town. We want the most bang for our buck.”

“I was brought up to give back to the community,” he said. “It would be a privilege to serve as Selectman, and I would do the best to my ability to serve the community.”