Two Sewer Commissioners not seeking reelection
Finance Committee Chair Bernard Pigeon is the only candidate running for Sewer Commission this year. Screenshot courtesy: WCTV
Finance Committee Chair Bernard Pigeon is the only candidate running for Sewer Commission this year. Screenshot courtesy: WCTV
Incumbent Sewer Commissioners Donna Bronk and Malcolm White are not running for reelection, and only one candidate is stepping forward to replace them.
Bernard Pigeon, who is reaching the end of his nine-year maximum term on the Finance Committee, is running unopposed for a seat on the Sewer Commission.
Election Day is Tuesday, May 2. If there are no write-in candidates for the other Sewer Commission seat, the Select Board would have to appoint somebody to the office.
“I just can’t be a part of this organization anymore,” Bronk said when asked why she is not seeking reelection. “I don’t believe in the way things are being done, and it goes against all my principles.”
Bronk specifically cited the ongoing Swifts Beach controversy, where residents forced to pay for costly sewage-grinding pumps in their homes have accused the Sewer Commission of a lack of transparency.
White could not be reached for comment.
Pigeon said that the Swifts Beach situation was his “catalyst” for running. If he were on the Sewer Commission, he said, he would have reached out to Swifts Beach residents much earlier in the process of repairs to the sewer pipe on Wankinquoah Avenue. The grinder pump mandate came out of those repairs.
“I felt that irrespective of the technical parts of the Swifts Beach proposal, selling the product... could’ve been handled a little differently,” he said.
Pigeon has several friends on the Sewer Commission, and sees how hard the work is for them. He believes that they are too “overwhelmed” to have meaningful interactions with citizens.
“Perhaps my skills could be of some help to them,” he said, noting his background in marketing.
He thinks that communicating with the public about the sewer system is just as important as understanding its technical details, especially as the town plans to give the aging sewer plant a $36 million overhaul.
“It’s going to be difficult to convince someone who’s struggling to pay their bills” that the infrastructure is necessary, he said.
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