On Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen began interviewing candidates to sit on the Westfield RFP Review and Recommendation Committee, charged with reviewing and making suggestions to the Selectmen for a request for proposals, or RFP, for the construction of senior affordable housing at the Westfield property in West Wareham.

Originally, the interviewing process was scheduled to last for three weeks, with six applicants interviewing per meeting. However, only three hopefuls were able to attend Tuesday's interview session due to inclement weather. Everyone who applies will eventually have an opportunity to interview with the Board of Selectmen for five to eight minutes during one of the board's upcoming meetings.

This week, Michael Schneider, Sandy Slavin, and Marcia Griswold all sat before the board for its consideration. All three have experience working with requests for proposals and have attended public meetings concerning Westfield.

Schneider, a candidate for the Board of Selectmen, has more than 20 years of experience working to build affordable housing, he said. In the past, he also assisted on the construction of the new Center for Advanced Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "I'm familiar with the community's vision," he told the board, touting his active role in the Wareham community.

Slavin has a bachelor's degree in education from Northeastern University, with a specialization in physical education. She told the Selectmen her educational background will be an asset to the committee since one of the new provisions of the proposal will be to install a ballpark. Slavin has also worked with Wareham's Historical Society to draft proposals and has several years of professional experience as a program director.

Griswold is currently the director of the town's Council on Aging and Social Services. She has been involved with Westfield and other affordable housing projects in Wareham since December 2008. Griswold said she is especially committed to issues impacting seniors for both personal and professional reasons. Griswold has 25 years of experience as a grant writer and has drafted requests for proposals on social issues in both Maine and Massachusetts.

During the January 24 meeting of the Selectmen, it was determined that the new committee would meet and come up with recommendations for the Board of Selectmen, which would then rewrite an existing RFP for the project based on the suggestions. On Tuesday, the Selectmen chose instead to have the committee rewrite the RFP based on their own assessments and recommendations from the Town Planner. The revised RFP will be looked over during a joint meeting between the groups on March 26.

The Selectmen will ultimately submit the request for contractors' bids. A representative from the committee will provide weekly updates to the Board of Selectmen during its Tuesday meetings.

If all goes as planned, the committee will be in place before month's end, in time to finalize a draft to submit to Town Administrator Mark Andrews on April 1.