NAHANT — To mark the occasion of becoming the first woman in the Town’s history to be sworn in as town administrator, Alison Nieto wore a vibrant, pink dress to her ceremony on Monday.
“I think it’s very historic to be the first female town administrator here,” Nieto said. “While there have been female town administrators all over, for it to be here, it’s a pretty historic thing, and I’m glad to be part of it.”
As Nieto swore her oath to “faithfully” and “impartially” perform all necessary duties, the approximately 30 attendees — made up of family, friends, and former and current Town staff — beamed with pride, later erupting into an incredibly genuine round of applause.
Nieto began her remarks by reminding all those in attendance that she “had no intention of becoming town administrator.”
“I think I told everybody that, but when my predecessor Tony Barletta was leaving, he talked me into it,” she said candidly. “I have been a finance director for almost 10 years now, and I enjoyed that role. I just really love Nahant. I grew up here. My parents still live here… I just wanted to continue to work with the staff that’s here that’s really dedicated to the town. That was important to me, so that’s the reason why I threw my hat in the ring, and I made it this far.”
Barletta then took a moment to recognize and congratulate his successor.
“I just want to take the opportunity to say how incredibly proud I am of Alison and thankful to Alison. The truth is: She’s been running the Town of Nahant for the last four years now,” Barletta said, earning some chuckles throughout the room. “Throughout my career here, since Alison joined our team, she has been right there helping me get through whatever challenge has come forward.”
He continued, “She’s always the first call that I made because I knew she had the right advice to give. She knew it by instinct, and that’s why, when the opportunity came about, it wasn’t a ‘choose Alison by default’ situation; it was that I knew she would do really well in this position. She had the right mindset for it.”
Barletta also pointed out that “once again, Nahant is being led by a hometown person.”
Nieto ensured everyone was aware that her mother Patricia MacDonald brought a spread of food with shrimp cocktails, sandwiches, chips, and more to Town Hall for the celebration.
“I said to her, ‘Should we do finger sandwiches?’ And she said, ‘No,’ so naturally I did finger sandwiches,” MacDonald said with a laugh.
And like any good mom, MacDonald couldn’t help herself from bragging about her kid.
“I think there’s no flies on my daughter,” she said. “I think she’s worked hard and has been doing two jobs for about six months now, and she seems to have handled it so far.”
Nieto’s aunt, Deborah Murphy, who was also the Town’s public health nurse, said she was “surprised it took this long” for a woman to become town administrator, but she’s “happy it’s happening now.”
Stressing that she is speaking professionally rather than personally, Murphy said Nieto is “very, very intelligent, and she’s very well-liked, and she makes very thoughtful decisions. I think she’s going to be a great leader. I really do.”
Nieto emphasized that she’s just “really happy to be here and to serve the town.”
She added, “There’s really great things that are going to come along in Nahant, so stay tuned.”
