PEABODY — The two-headed race for city councilor in Ward 2 is between incumbent Peter McGinn, who has held the position for the last decade, and challenger Mary Beth Mallia, who served as the ward’s councilor from 1996 to 1997.
Mallia’s last run for city government was for a spot on the Light Commission in 2021. She currently works as a loan officer at Peabody Municipal Federal Credit Union. As of press time, Mallia could not be reached for comment after multiple attempts.
McGinn, a lifelong resident of the ward, is seeking his sixth term as city councilor for Ward 2. After graduating from Veterans Memorial High School in 1981, he studied undergraduate engineering at the University of Vermont. He eventually earned a master’s degree in the same field from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He credits his wife of 34 years, Jeannette, and their four grown children as the best part of his life. Once his children had reached a certain age of maturity, McGinn felt he had adequate time to begin his career in city government.
“I was always very interested in the work of the council. I was kind of a council-watcher,” McGinn said. “And I had done a lot of community service and volunteering, so it was kind of just a natural progression to run for Ward 2.”
McGinn also serves on the Legal Affairs Committee and as chair of the Finance Committee. In the decade he has spent on the City Council, he said he has been involved in numerous projects that have had a lasting effect on Ward 2 and Peabody as a whole. He described the repaving of 62 streets in Ward 2, the 80-acre DiBiase land acquisition, and downtown improvements such as the opening of North Shore Children’s Museum and the renovation of 2 Washington St. as accomplishments he had a role in. McGinn also noted a current downtown project that just advanced from the planning to implementation stage involving lighting improvements and electric-vehicle charging-station installation.
According to McGinn, the impending shutdown of the Rousselot manufacturing plant is the most important challenge Peabody faces in the immediate future.
“The Rousselot is a very large customer of the water and sewer enterprise,” McGinn said. “We’ve already had to anticipate a loss of $3 million in revenue… We have the loss of them as a taxpayer and the loss of them as an employer. They employ about 100 individuals.”
A large portion of Rousselot resides in Ward 2. McGinn suggested that adjusting and navigating the closure will be a gradual process.
“This is a process that’s really just starting,” McGinn said. “How this ends up is going to be a major issue for Ward 2, so I am very committed to focusing and spending a lot of time on this issue.”
He added that his experience working with large corporations will be valuable in handling the situation moving forward.
Some residents and city officials have recently objected to the perceived severity of the state’s zoning requirements, arguing that Peabody has done more than enough to create affordable housing. McGinn has been involved in multiple housing developments during his City Council tenure and lent his thoughts on whether the city has the geographical bandwidth for future projects.
“We’ve done a lot with respect to housing production, and that’s not to say we shouldn’t do more,” McGinn said. “But I think we’re in a place where each proposal should be reviewed on its merits to determine whether it’s in the best interest of area residents and the city in general.”
