John Cronan, of Charge Pond Road, has spent almost 15 years as a volunteer for the Town of Wareham. He sat on the Zoning Board of Appeals for nearly nine years, helped run the Recycling Committee for three years prior to that, and has been a Selectman for the past three years. Throughout that time, he said that he has worked to restore accountability and unity to Town Hall.

"As I sat on the Zoning Board of Appeals, I noticed the lack of accountability throughout Town Hall," Cronan said. "I also noticed that the Board of Selectmen seemed to be on different missions. I felt then and feel now that I can help keep the Board unified and accountable to all."

Cronan said this attitude developed from his long career in construction and working on large developments that demand strong management skills. He graduated from Wentworth College of Design and Construction with a bachelor's degree in Construction Engineering Technology in 1983 and now works with the fourth-largest real estate company in the world.

"My work atmosphere relates easily to seeing how Town Hall runs as a business," Cronan said.

One aspect of business that Cronan believes should be emphasized in town government is open communication to resolve problems.

"There is a citizens participation segment at Selectmen's meetings, and I feel anyone in town with a problem should go there to solve it instead of making anything a nasty political issue," Cronan said. "I would like to be remembered as a fair and helpful person willing to help anyone that asks for help. Everyone in Town Hall should work together as should all boards and committees, and I would like to be known as a person who accomplished that."

As for the biggest issue facing Wareham, Cronan said the answer is three-fold: accountability, fiscal challenges, and economic development. He said that accountability is "being addressed constantly" in Town Hall, and he credits Town Administrator Mark Andrews with unifying the employees in Town Hall as a team.

Cronan also credits Andrews, Town Account Elizabeth Zaleski, and the town's new auditor, the firm of Powers and Sullivan, with addressing fiscal challenges.

Cronan said that the economic development necessary for the town is just beginning.

"Economic developoment will become very important in town as we need to ensure proper development to help our tax base," he said.

He was pleased with the attendance at last weekend's Wareham Works economic summit and is enthusiastic about the potential for the A.D. Makepeace Rosebrook development.

At Candidates Night, Cronan specifically cited looking at trying to increase the cosmetic appeal of Cranberry Highway, a site that the state is interested in redeveloping with stimulus funds. He suggested similar improvements for businesses in Wareham's downtown, hoping to spark investment that will inspire further redevelopment in areas with supporting infrastructure such as water and sewer already in place.

Cronan believes that the town can and should encourage affordable housing, but it has to be appropriate. He said the 144 units at the Retreat at Union Pond represented about the maximum size project for Wareham, and he said that smaller projects, combined with incentives for people to renovate existing properties, would be preferable to large-scale affordable housing developments.

"Small steps will still get us our numbers," he said. "The larger you go, the more problems you can encounter."

He hopes that he will be able to be involved with implementing these ideas.

"It's one of the reasons I want to stick around, "Cronan said. "Because if the state is interested in developing here, I want to be a part of it."