Selectman Steve Holmes is proud of the strides he says the board has made in encouraging civility in town government and in promoting economic development. He wants to continue that work if re-elected to his second term.

"I think this current board, we've created a very civil atmosphere for many things. For citizens to come before the board, for committees, [and] we're starting a whole lot of joint meetings with committees," where everyone can sit down together and discuss issues that affect the entire town, Holmes said.

When Holmes was elected three years ago, one thing he was focused on was economic development. He believes that the town has made great strides in that area. According to him, this is due in no small part to some of the hires the board has made along the way.

"We've created an atmosphere where businesses are willing to come in and sit down and talk with us," Holmes explained. "A big piece of that is Sal Pina," who the board hired to direct the Community and Economic Development Authority.

Pina has accomplished a number of things, including helping to negotiate tax breaks that have both kept an existing business in Wareham (the T. Marzetti-owned Chatham Village Croutons), and attracted new business, such as a Marriott hotel, owned by LaFrance Hospitality Group, which is slated to be built at the A.D. Makepeace Company's Rosebrook Place on Cranberry Highway, Holmes says.

Holmes also lists the hire of Town Administrator Derek Sullivan, who was appointed in January, as one of the board's accomplishments.

"Just in a few months, he's done a fabulous job," said Holmes.

Senior affordable housing is also high on Holmes' list of priorities. He says the town has wasted too much time trying to pitch the Westfield senior housing development to developers.

The proposal to build affordable senior housing units on the 77-acre Westfield property in West Wareham has been a topic of heated debate for years. In its fifth appearance before voters in November, 2010, a proposal was approved with stipulations that not more than one-third of the property be used for senior housing, that all units be affordable and restricted to seniors, and that any developer hired to complete the project be required to maintain the property's athletic fields.

"Money for those types of developments just isn't there. … Listening to the seniors, we need to do something, but we need to take a different approach," Holmes said. "We need to go smaller and we need to be more integrated in the current infrastructure of the town."

Holmes noted that based on the feedback that he's received, seniors were less than thrilled with the "apartments in the woods," and would prefer housing that's closer to services that can be found in the downtown area.

Looking to the future, Holmes says that centralizing public safety services, such as fire and EMS, could save the town money, and free up space for other uses, including senior housing.

"If we're successful at this centralized public safety complex, EMS would be part of that. That's a nice little piece of property... Let's say we move EMS to a complex: What are we going to do with that? You don't have to buy the land, all you have to do is find someone to build it," said Holmes, suggesting that perhaps senior affordable housing units could be built on the Sandwich Road land where the town's EMS Department is currently located.

According to Holmes, rebuilding trust in government is key to the board getting anything done, and he says he can understand why people in town may not trust the local government.

Holmes cited last summer's voter defeat of the Proposition 2½ overrides, which would have raised property taxes to provide money to Wareham schools, as an example of what can happen when a government that doesn't have its "house in order" and loses the trust of the people who elected it.

"I think we can rebuild that trust factor," said Holmes. "I think the ball is rolling in the right direction. The only thing I would ever fear is that it starts to roll backwards. … As long as I'm there, I won't allow that to happen."

Another part of rebuilding that trust, according to Holmes, is revamping the town website so citizens can easily access information about decisions made by the board.

Noting Sullivan's recent initiative to reorganize the town Finance Department, Holmes said that the Technology Department, among others, could use a similar reorganization.

"Everybody thinks … 'Oh, they're getting rid of jobs,'" when they hear about the reorganization of town departments, Holmes said. "It's not about that. … It's about making [town] services better and increasing those services, and we can't do it the way it's run today."

Holmes grew up in New Bedford and graduated from Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River. He's lived in Wareham for approximately eight years.

After graduation, Holmes served 13 years in the Army National Guard before going to work for SouthCoast Hospital Group, where he worked for 23 years. He currently works in the business and development division at Dell.

Over the course of his term as a Selectman, Holmes said one of the things he's learned is that progress in government moves at a slower pace than he's used to seeing in the business world, but he's not complaining.

"I think for government it's not such a bad thing that things move slower," he said. "You get more time to do research and bring people into the equation. … I didn't realize that when I first ran."