Select Board Candidate Sherry Quirk found Wareham in 2001 as a part-time resident. She retired to the town in 2021 and got involved in government, beginning on the Planning Board and later becoming chair of the Alternative Energy Committee. 

On the committee, she has helped create regulations including a battery storage bylaw for large solar developments. 

Quirk  said she heard a lot of concern about the amount of solar development in Wareham and how that might affect the town when she  joined the Planning Board. 

With both the Planning Board and the Alternative Energy Committee, she has tried to advocate for what’s in Wareham’s best interests. 

“We try to be part of the solution for climate change, and at the same time, achieve balance in the town,” she said. 

Before settling in Wareham, Quirk worked for decades as a lawyer in the energy field. She worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee, then in private practice she represented energy providers as the general counsel and executive vice-president of the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the largest federally-owned energy providers in the country.

That experience only took her so far — Wareham is not a huge corporate entity, but that doesn’t mean its problems are any easier to solve, Quirk said. 

If elected to the Select Board, Quirk said she wants to keep her eye on the region’s energy development, in part through work with the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District. 

The town has a long list of other issues which are also on her radar, including funding its schools, building housing, constructing a new police station and addressing its wastewater treatment issues. 

“I really like solving problems,” she said. 

However, Quirk also sees a lot of opportunity in Wareham — “I think right now it’s a really fine place to live,” she said.