SWAMPSCOTT — Ted Dooley has announced his candidacy for the Swampscott Select Board, saying he hopes to bring disciplined leadership and a focus on long-term financial planning to town government.
Dooley and his wife moved to Swampscott seven years ago. It’s the place they chose to start their family with their dog Kennedy, their young son Jack, and their newborn daughter Merritt.
“It kind of felt like home from day one,” Dooley said. “The community and the people we met here were so welcoming, and that made the community so special.”
Dooley currently serves as chair of the Planning Board and the Harbor & Waterfront Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the Town’s Master Plan and Community Preservation committees and serves as a Town Meeting member. He said that involvement in town government has given him insight into both the Town’s strengths and the challenges it faces.
“Swampscott is special,” Dooley said in his campaign statement. “From our coastline and harbor to our neighborhoods and cultural life, this is a remarkable place.”
A central issue for his campaign, he said, will be the Town’s financial outlook, particularly the need to expand the commercial tax base and take a more proactive approach to economic development.
“The Town has faced a lot of difficult financial decisions over the last year,” he said. “It seems like we’ve really been reactionary trying to get ourselves out of this pickle that we’re in with rising costs… One of the reasons why I really wanted to run was to start having some of these tough conversations about how we can prioritize more new growth.”
For Dooley, expanding the commercial tax base is preferable to relying on the Town’s excess levy. He said depending too heavily on residential property taxes, particularly as the Town prepares for major future capital expenses like a new middle school, is not a sustainable approach.
To address those financial challenges, Dooley said he would like to establish an economic development task force that brings together Town officials, local businesses, and members of key boards and committees.
The goal, he said, would be to “really focus on looking at ways the Town can identify barriers to bringing new businesses into town and helping overcome them — whether that’s by zoning changes, planning changes, or other incentives the Town can provide.”
In addition to economic development, Dooley said his priorities include thoughtful housing planning and responsible investment in infrastructure projects like roads and seawalls. He also said delivering results on long-discussed projects, including the future of the Hawthorne property, would be a priority.
“Collaboration and listening matter,” he said in his campaign statement. “But discussion cannot become a substitute for decision-making… As leaders, we need to engage broadly, decide collaboratively, and ultimately execute effectively on behalf of the community.”
