Candidate Donna Bronk hopes to open the doors to communication if elected to the Board of Selectmen.

Bronk said she believes engaging the public is critical to making progress.

“I want to communicate with the public and give the community a better understanding of the issues,” Bronk said. “I’d like to hold meeting hours one morning a week for people to stop in and talk.”

Although this is Bronk's first run for office, she is currently the chair of the Finance Committee, a role she said has familiarized her with the challenges facing Wareham.

“My goal is to try to bring a balanced budget in these tough economic times and encourage economic growth,” she explained.

Bronk, 60, said education and collaboration are the areas most in need of improvement.

“It is critical the Finance Committee, the School Board, and the municipal side work together,” she said. “Working together is the biggest challenge I see. We’re on our way with the Ad Hoc Committee.”

As Chair of the Finance Committee Bronk became a member of an ad hoc budget committee that was formed in January to review the town and School Department's fiscal year 2012 budgets. The committee also consists of Town Administrator Mark Andrews, Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch, and members of the Board of Selectmen and School Committee.

Bronk said that while she doesn't always agree with Andrews, he has been responsive to her.

“Some of his practices I haven’t been happy with,” Bronk said. “ The Finance Committee has had a lot of trouble getting the numbers we need, but he appears to be working on it.”

Bronk said part-time interim Police Chief Richard Stanley has done well for the town. “He’s an unbelievable person," she said. “I don’t know if we can afford him[on a permanent, full-time basis]. If we can have him, great! If we can’t, we need to find someone else.”

Bronk called Stanley a “people person,” noting how he has gained the respect of his staff and the public. She feels this is a quality any chief should possess.

Aside from a full-time police chief, Bronk said the Wareham Police Department is in need a new station. “It is outdated and not serviceable for the amount of officers they have and the training they need,” she noted.

Main Street in Wareham could also use a little updating, she said.

“Owners are starting to clean up the storefronts,” she said. “As far as spending the money to fix the streets, I’d rather see it go toward deferred maintenance. Everything from buildings to buses.”

Bronk, a retired regional property manager, said she has not overlooked the trend of retail stores relocating their operations from the east side of Cranberry Highway to the west.

“With Staples and possibly Walmart moving, it’s important to solicit more business and reassess the traffic in West Wareham,” Bronk said.

Bronk said working with the Town Planner is instrumental in finding businesses that will fill vacant stores along Cranberry Highway. If elected, she said she'd also work with the Town Planner to establish parking regulations in Onset Village.

“Onset Village business owners are crying for a parking policy,” she said. Visitors park for free on the streets in front of storefronts. “Onset beach is one of the nicest in 50 miles, and it’s free!”

Bronk said charging visitors to park in municipal parking lots in Onset in addition to the one on the Town Pier will both in bring revenue and deter beach goers from taking up parking spots in front of the shops.

Bronk, a resident of Wareham since 1968, lives with her husband, Donald, and their dog, Vinnie on Glenda Avenue. The couple has three grown children: Tom Bronk, Tim Bronk, and Cassie Whitney.

As for her legacy in Wareham: “At the end of the day I want people to look at me as an honest, fair person who works hard,” Bronk said, much like people remember her mother. “My mother wrote the minority report for the Town Charter and it still pleases me that people say 'we should have listened to Betty Carmichael.'”

Bronk said her favorite thing about living in Wareham is the community and the people who have created it.