Herman, Mathison Eye New Select Board Terms

ORLEANS – Both select board members up for re-election in May say they’re interested in pursuing new three-year terms.

 Michael Herman has taken out papers to run for a second full term on the board. And while he hasn’t taken out papers, Mark Mathison said he’s leaning toward a fourth term.

 Herman first joined the board in November 2021, when he ran uncontested in a special election to fill the remainder of the term vacated by Cecil Newcomb. He was elected to his first full term in May 2022.

 “It kind of surprised me that three years of this term has already been up,” he said when reached by phone last week. “There’s so much more to do, you don’t ever consider it ever kind of ending, the service for the community. And the projects as we know take much more than a couple of years.”

 Looking back on his first full term, Herman said there’s a “learning curve” that comes with joining the board. Now as he looks ahead to a possible second term, he said he and the select board are much better positioned to make more headway on some of the town’s most pressing issues, namely housing and the environment.

 “The housing crisis is not a new crisis, neither really is wastewater,” he said. “These have been going on for a long time. We’re just kind of like that train going up the hill and we’re finally getting up to speed here.”

 During his tenure on the select board, Herman has been a vocal advocate for environmental protection. He spearheaded petitions to the state legislature seeking to give Orleans more control on how herbicides and pesticides are used in the community, both of which have been refiled for the current legislative session. 

 The town is also making gains on sewering, a process that will further reduce the amount of nitrogen and other pollutants entering the town’s waterways. But Herman said the town can’t bank entirely on its sewering efforts to protect the town’s natural resources, which he called Orleans’ “biggest asset.”

 “Because we’re going to be facing challenges regarding our environment in the next decade, two decades, as we always are, we need to be vigilant on multiple fronts,” he said.

 Herman said he also wants to see the town make more gains on the renewable energy front, especially as energy prices continue to rise. Other issues such as following through on the town’s vision for a town campus and the expansion of the town’s universal pre-kindergarten program through middle school will be priorities if he is re-elected, Herman said.

 “We have an amazing elementary school in Orleans, and we have an amazing Nauset school system,” he said. “We need to provide for young working families. For me, the biggest thing they ask for is universal childcare.”

 On the housing front, both Herman and Mathison say re-envisioning zoning to allow for the creation of more and different kinds of housing is critical moving forward. Both say they support the planning board’s ongoing exploration of form-based zoning, which Mathison said can better incentivize the development of the kind of housing the town needs.

 “We need to get that to a point where we can involve the private sector to get things done so people can afford to live here again,” he said.

 Mathison, the board’s current chair, said he’s gotten a lot of encouragement from people in town to seek re-election to a fourth term. He said that with the gains the town has made on numerous fronts under Town Manager Kim Newman’s leadership, he’s inclined to run for another three-year term.

 “I guess I kind of feel I have some unfinished business and that I have an obligation to get that done,” he said.

 Economic development is also a priority for Mathison as he explores another term on the board. He said he'd like to see more educational opportunities created around technology and the blue economy through partnerships with area colleges and universities.

 “We have so much when it comes to coastal resiliency, climate change and mitigation,” he said. “It would be great if we could tap into that down here. There are so many colleges and universities in Boston, but it would be great if you could have some connection with those universities working down here. Because we have Pleasant Bay, we have Cape Cod Bay, we have the Nauset Estuary, the Atlantic coast itself.”

 Mathison also wants to see continued progress in the town’s environmental protection efforts, not just through sewering but also through the exploration of various alternative technologies and methods.

 “I’m looking at South Orleans, where you’re going for miles and miles and you’re picking up 20 houses,” he said. “That cost is so prohibitively expensive, so what are our alternatives?”

 So far, only Herman has taken out papers to seek one of the two select board seats up for grabs at the May 20 annual town election. Also on the ballot is a three-year seat on the board of health, a three-year term for town moderator, a three-year seat on the Orleans Elementary School committee, a three-year seat on the Nauset regional school committee, a five-year seat on the Orleans Housing Authority, two three-year terms for constable and two three-year seats on the Snow Library board of trustees.

 Those interested in running for any of the above seats have until March 28 to take out nomination papers from the town clerk’s office. Papers with the signatures of at least 40 registered voters in town must be returned by April 1.