Two vie for selectman seat in Nahant

NAHANT – The only contested race in the April 24 town election is for a seat on the Board of Selectmen.Robert Scanlan, who has never held an elected office in town, is hoping to upset Selectman Michael Manning, a 15-year veteran of the board.Manning said he has enjoyed his tenure as a selectman and would like to continue serving the town in that capacity.He is employed as a senior scientist with the Center for Advance Microgravity Materials Processing, a NASA-funded Commercial Space Center at Northeastern University, where he is involved in research. Prior to that he taught chemical engineering at Northeastern.”I enjoy serving the town,” Manning said. “I think a lot of things in Nahant are working the way they ought to. We are managing our finances pretty well. We are not laying people off and are not asking for overrides. I want to continue serving the town as a selectman.”Manning said he got involved in town government in 1982 when he first moved to town. He said when he received his first Town Meeting booklet in the mail he noticed an article on that Town Meeting warrant called for forming a committee to study the future needs of town-owned buildings.”I was an engineer,” he said. “I thought I could be useful and handed a letter to the moderator at my first Town Meeting, volunteering to serve on that committee. I was appointed immediately and went on to serve on the Finance Committee. I have been a selectman since 1995.”Scanlan, who is a marine surveyor, refused to be interviewed for this article.”Please don’t bother contacting me anymore,” he said in a voicemail left at The Daily Item. “I have nothing to say to you. Do not call my office. Do not approach me. I have nothing to say to you or your Lynn Item.”According to his campaign Web site, he is a sixth generation Nahanter and “Nahant’s Selected Man with Intelligence and Concern of a Dedicated Selectman.””I will endeavor to protect the residents, families and taxpayers of Nahant,” Scanlan wrote. “Let’s vote to have Nahant be Nahant again.”If elected, Scanlan vowed to “restore respect and discipline” to the Nahant Police Department, modify the fire department and “overhaul the wasted spending and personnel” in Town Hall, but he did not offer any specifics as to how he would make the changes if elected. Scanlan also promised to eliminate the fees for beach parking stickers and the winter parking waiver.The town election is scheduled on Saturday, April 24. Polls are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.