NAHANT — The community gathered at the Nahant Village Church on Friday morning to hear the three candidates for the Board of Selectmen speak ahead of the election on April 26.
Residents poured into the hall inside the church for free breakfast while they heard presentations from Michael Manning, Patrick O’Reilly and David Wilson as they talked about what they thought were critical issues in town.
Michael Manning was the first candidate to speak before the crowd. “This is not my first time running. As many of you know, I served as a selectman for 21 years… I was elected in 1995 and served until 2016 before I decided it was time to take a break,” Manning said.
Manning said one of his accomplishments was serving on the Town Administrator Search Committee. “I helped bring you Tony Barletta as the current Town Administrator, who we think is doing a great job,” Manning said.
“I’m really interested in financial efficiency,” he said. “Do we get the most bang for our buck? How do we make sure that happens? … Before I ran for Selectman, I served for eight years in the Advisory and Finance Committee, with six of those years as chair. I also helped prepare the budget in the pre-town administrator era, making sure all functions of town government can function.”
He emphasized that he wants to support all existing organizations and schools, where he cited divisions among the community, which he said stems from trying to figure out what’s best for the school while balancing what’s best for the town.
Manning said he was also active in the initial campaign to bring both the Nahant Coast Guard station back to town from government ownership. He also served on the Capital Planning Committee, and was a volunteer firefighter for 10 years.
Patrick O’Reilly was the next candidate to speak before the audience.
“I’m very cost-conscious… I have a degree from MIT in management and engineering, and I have a lot of management credentials. I think I can take that experience and bring it to the board,” O’Reilly said. “I think Town Administrator Tony Barletta and the administration have been doing a great job, and we need to make sure we keep recognizing his contributions.”
O’Reilly told the crowd that he had been a Nahant resident for 23 years. He said he values education deeply, and when he’s not working he enjoys volunteering his time to those in need.
“I joined the Board of Nahant Preservation Trust these last six years, and was appointed to the Planning Board in 2020, then elected in 2021,” O’Reilly said. “We’re up against a deadline for the end of the year to adopt zoning changes, in order to allow for multi-family developments… We need to find a way to comply with 3A, we have to get public input and see what we should do.”
O’Reilly said the town will have to account for the results of the changes to the bylaw. He added the town could potentially see more housing in Nahant, and that the town should plan for some growth, noting it could also cause a strain on town services. “We have to balance those things,” he said.
“Coming off those committees, I feel that I’m in a very good position to navigate that,” O’Reilly said. “We’ve got some good ideas, but the work needs to get done.”
Infrastructure and a stronger focus on maintaining aging facilities remains a priority going forward for O’Reilly, who stressed the importance of mitigating future flooding.
“As an advocate for preservation, I want to work diligently to protect Nahant’s parks and open spaces,” O’Reilly said. “I want to protect East Point, and make sure that what happens with the land is according to the town’s wishes.”
David Wilson spoke to the audience after Manning and O’Reilly.
“I have a lot of service for the town,” Wilson said. “I was a call firefighter for 39 years, and worked with the Department of Public Works (DPW) for 37 years, and I was also on both the School Committee and the Conservation Committee.”
Wilson said that he serves on the Housing Authority and that one of his primary concerns going into the campaign is a strong focus on housing, and looking into properties around town that can be used for housing.
“All these residents who have been here forty or fifty years, they want to relax but they’re selling their houses and moving, I don’t like seeing them leave because they can’t afford living here,” Wilson said. “That’s why I joined the Housing Authority, to see if we can get more housing for elderly or low-income families.”
Another concern Wilson raised touched on Greenlawn Cemetery, where he explained in a couple of years it could become a “closed cemetery” — where there are no more available plots to sell. He emphasized the need to utilize town property to mitigate the issue.
Wilson also suggested hiring a grant writer to try and find more ways the town can receive funding. He stated the Fire Department had acquired new apparatuses, and the Police Department was able to upgrade their radio systems with Homeland Security funds. “There’s more money out there, so why not go out and get it?” Wilson said.
“I’m here to say that I’m not leaving, at least as far as I know,” Wilson said. “I’m proud to be a Nahant citizen. Thank you.”
