SWAMPSCOTT — Despite taking out nomination papers, both incumbents Laura Spathanas and Naomi Dreeben have chosen not to run for reelection to the Select Board.
Both women were elected in 2014 and served two three-year terms, and both say they are satisfied with their time on the Select Board, but want to devote their energy to other pursuits.
“I am sadly not running,” Spathanas said. “I took out the papers while I was still making up my mind.”
“We achieved as a board quite a few of the objectives that I wanted to achieve when I ran for election the first time,” Dreeben said. “I have decided that I will not run again.”
The town election is Tuesday, April 28. Since Spathanas and Dreeben have decided not to run, there will presumably be two new faces on the Select Board come May. Three men, David Grishman, of 55 Sampson Ave., Stephen WIlliams, of 10 Puritan Lane, and Neal Duffy, of 44 Hampden St. are on the ballot for the two seats.
Spathanas, a mother of three who has worked as an educator in the Lynn Public Schools’ special education department since 2005, cited other time-consuming commitments she has as reasons for not running for reelection.
“It’s not fair to not give 100 percent to something you’re committed to,” Spathanas said. “It’s a hard decision because there’s a lot of great things happening in Swampscott right now.”
Specifically, Spathanas is working to create a new town food pantry. It is early in that process, she said, but a group of residents have come together to begin brainstorming. Spathanas said her “passion” is still to serve Swampscott, and working to create a food pantry satisfies that passion.
Spathanas does not rule out running for the Select Board again in the future. The Select Board’s biggest accomplishments during her time included lowering the tax rate and pushing the town to create a master plan, which includes the Swampscott Rail Trail, a 2-mile linear park connecting the town’s neighborhoods from the Marblehead town line to Stetson Avenue on the other side of town, she said.
Dreeben said she will focus more on her family and career. She has two college-aged children, and has a background in geriatric social work, most recently having managed Element Care/PACE in Lynn.
“I have good confidence in Peter Spellios’ leadership and I think some good people are running,” Dreeben said.
According to Dreeben, the town has been able to better plan financially over the long term, and good working relationships have been formed among town departments since she first was elected. She endorses Grishman and Duffy, whom she knows, to fill the two Select Board seats.
Spathanas said she has talked with all three candidates and likes them, but chose not to endorse anyone in particular.
Dreeben is running for a five-year seat on the Swampscott Housing Authority. She said that position would allow her to “get better benefits for people in public housing,” and use age-based subgroups to make it easier for the elderly to stay in their homes as they age.
Spathanas and Dreeben also commented on the gender-makeup of the five-person Select Board, which will likely have a majority of men after the upcoming election.
“I am not disheartened, not sad, but we’re a majority women right now. That’s the hardest thing for me to leave,” Spathanas said.
“I think it’s a shame that more capable women aren’t stepping up to these public positions. I think it’s very, very hard to do for anybody,” Dreeben said.
Dreeben said she has become more confident “being in the limelight” and “developed a thicker skin” during her time on the Select Board, frequently taking both positive and negative feedback from residents.
“I would hate to think that someone really, really capable wouldn’t step up to do this job when they are qualified because of some arbitrary things that hold us back as women,” she said. “If we don’t have more women on the board this term, then next term, or the term after that. Laura and I and Polly (Titcomb) helped normalize more women on the board.”