LYNN — At Monday night’s Water and Sewer Commission meeting, Michael Celona and Robin Grace were appointed chair and vice chair of the Commission.
The LWSC met again after their usual month-long interval following the Jan. 12 meeting, during which the December vote to reappoint Celona as chair was rescinded.
Following Dr. Peter Meaney’s resignation, a vacancy was created on the Commission. The City Council subsequently voted to appoint Councilor Obed Matul as the councilor representative to the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission.
As Matul’s first act as a LWSC member, right at the beginning of the meeting, he motioned for Celona to be appointed as chair once again and for Grace to be vice chair.
Grace seconded the motion, which passed with affirmative votes from Grace and Celona; members Richard Colucci and Vincent Lozzi Jr. were absent.
Toward the end of the meeting, Matul also motioned that the Commission would begin to draft its own set of bylaws.
“So that we can avoid what happened last month,” Matul explained.
Along with that, Matul motioned for the Commission to be more transparent with the public, more specifically on social media.
Both motions were also passed.
“I actually wanted to say a few words before we move on to the next agenda topic,” Celona said.
Celona thanked Matul and Grace for reappointing him as chair.
“I want to say a huge thank you to those who spoke out in emails, text, social media posts, phone calls, and an online petition,” he stated.
Celona noted that the same people who participated in the online discourse saw the video, thanks to Lynn Community Television. He added that the residents didn’t need an explanation or justification from others for “what they could plainly see with their own eyes.”
He also took the time to thank Andrea Amour, who began the petition for LWSC transparency and for Celona to be appointed chair.
“After the vote at the last meeting, I was told it isn’t personal,” Celona continued and noted it was a phrase he heard often from politicians after certain votes they had taken. “What I would like to say was that it was indeed personal.”
“It was personal to many voters who wanted to see a clean Kings Beach, who want to see a more transparent government, who wanted to have faith that actions are being taken in their best interests,” he said.
Celona stated that many people had spent decades working on these issues, and recent events have underscored the importance of staying focused and driven. Rather than dwelling on what happened, the Commission will turn its attention into a positive opportunity to highlight its accomplishments, including Kings Beach, award-winning drinking water, flood-reduction improvements, and upgrades to treatment plants.
He also shared that those successes were due to a dedicated staff, now guided by a new executive director providing the first fresh perspective since the Commission’s creation in 1982.
“I’m reenergized and optimistic that we’re gonna have a great 2026 at the Commission…so let’s get back to work,” Celona stated.
