SWAMPSCOTT — Students will return to school for in-person learning, the town will grapple with whether to keep the Massachusetts Civil Service system for its police and fire chiefs, and a new elementary school will potentially be built, if approved by voters.
There is a lot going on in Swampscott’s near future, and newest Select Board members Neal Duffy and David Grishman hope to bring a new energy to the town’s chief executive body. Duffy and Grishman beat out Stephen T. Williams in Tuesday’s town election, winning 1,263 and 990 votes, respectively, compared to Williams’ 834.
“I’m really excited. I’m super excited to get to work,” Duffy said following his win. “The first step for me is to get more familiar with the process of being a selectperson, how and when we get reports.”
Duffy said one of his main focuses as a Select Board member is to make sure the school building project — which aims to replace Hadley Elementary School — is done successfully and at the right price. A preliminary design for the school is expected this year, with residents expecting to vote on the project, which will be mostly funded by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, in fall of 2021.
Duffy has lived in Swampscott for 16 years and is the father of two sons. He said he has been “actively involved” in town by coaching sports, as chairman of the Renewable Energy Committee, and as a Town Meeting member. He also helped develop the town’s Master Plan.
In a debate leading up to the election, hosted by The Item, Duffy said he would like to learn more about the state’s Civil Service system, with the town possibly voting to remove its police and fire chiefs from the system this fall.
Grishman, in a statement following his victory, said he was excited and glad the COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent people from voting and “having (their) voices heard,” and that the “real work begins” now.
Grishman is a Swampscott resident whose sons both attend Clarke Elementary School, and who said he has “spearheaded” community events, such as the Bent Water Beach Party, and helped raise more than $500,000 for the Swampscott Fish House. He has said he hopes the town will appropriately use its free cash and reserve funds to have schools safely reopened this fall, and he also hopes to be an “independent voice” on a board that has been “largely deferential to the chair” in the recent past.
Before the election, Williams said he had hoped to represent “forgotten groups” within town, such as police officers and firefighters, seniors, veterans, and lobstermen, if elected.
Duffy and Grishman will join Peter Spellios, Polly Titcomb, and Don Hause as members of the five-person board. Previous members Naomi Dreeben and Laura Spathanas chose not to run for reelection, opening the two seats. For Spathanas, she said she wanted to focus more on other things, such as establishing the Anchor Food Pantry as a permanent and well-run source of food for Swampscott and Nahant residents.
Dreeben chose to leave the Select Board and focus on creating more housing opportunities for residents, getting “better benefits for people in public housing,” and using age-based subgroups to make it easier for the elderly to stay in their homes as they age.
To accomplish that goal, Dreeben ran for a five-year seat on the Housing Authority and won, beating Alan G. Ledbury with 1,172 votes compared to Ledbury’s 395 in the only other contested race in the election.
School Committee incumbent Suzanne Wright and newcomer John N. Giantis also were elected to the School Committee Tuesday, with 1,198 and 899 votes respectively. The two seats on the School Committee were originally contested, but candidates Keiko Zoll and Greg D’Antona, who still received 395 and 201 votes respectively, decided to pull out of the race prior to the election, rendering easy wins for Wright and Giantis.
Wright has lived in Swampscott for 25 years, and said she wants to continue the effort to build a new school in town. Giantis, in a debate prior to the election, said he wants to “make sure Swampscott is spending money wisely,” and “challenge things when appropriate.”
A 10-year resident of Swampscott with two daughters, Giantis also said he hopes to ensure Swampscott schools are a place where no child is “left behind,” specifically mentioning his daughter who has special needs.
Other offices were uncontested in the election, and were won by the respective ballot candidates, including moderator, incumbent Michael McClung; Board of Assessors, incumbent Tasia Vasiliou; library trustee, incumbent Ellen Winkler; Board of Health, incumbent Emily Cilley; and Planning Board, incumbent William Quinn.
