Select Board Candidate Kelleher Wants To Improve Governance

 HARWICH – As he runs for a seat on the select board, Mark Kelleher said his number one vision is to improve governance in the town.

 He joins Anita Doucette and Kathryn McManus in the race for the two, three-year terms on the select board in the annual election. There are no incumbents seeking re-election; board members Julie Kavanagh and Michael MacAskill have chosen not to seek another term.

 Kelleher has served on the finance committee for the past three years. After taking out nomination papers, he delayed an interview with The Chronicle because, he said, he was busy preparing the finance committee’s responses to warrant articles in the upcoming annual town meeting. That work is complete, Kelleher said last week.

 Kelleher has been active in the community for many of the 25 years he has lived here. He has served on the housing authority and volunteers time with the Meals on Wheels program as well as serving on the finance committee. 

 He was a candidate for selectman in a special election in 2021 that was won by Kavanagh.

 Kelleher grew up in Boston and worked for O’Connell Brothers Construction Company before becoming a special education teacher in the Plymouth School District. While on the Cape he has been active in shellfisheries.

“I want to work for better governance for the town, help address the turnover issues we’ve had, and establish stability for a new finance director,” said Kelleher. “We’ve had four of them in the past several years. It’s one of the more important positions in town.”

He said there is a need to work with the finance director to get a better handle on the town’s debt schedule to better plan for the future. The town needs to develop an accurate debt schedule so people will know how it affects their taxes in the future, he said.

“If you know what’s coming up, you can plan for it,” Kelleher said.  

Better government includes better communication, and Kelleher said that can be accomplished through the creation of a newsletter for residents. 

He said he would push for the town administrator to report monthly to the select board on staff accomplishments. That would be a way for staff to get  recognition, he added.

“People need to know who our staff is and that would let them know,” Kelleher said. “I think they do a tremendous job.”

Kelleher said he supports the ballot question to establish a charter commission to examine town government. 

Supporting the school system and maintaining instructional quality and excellence for the students is also important, he said. 

“My children went to the Harwich schools and got an excellent start for their college education. I want that to continue for present day kids,” said Kelleher.

It is very important, he said, that the town works to adjust the regional school district agreement formula, especially in the near term given the capital costs for the Monomoy Regional Middle School siding and window project. The ongoing cost of educating students and funding teachers is not going to be easy going forward, he said.

Kelleher said he is an advocate for smaller cluster housing that fits into different neighborhoods in town. He also said affordable rental housing is needed. Renters now have to earn $73,000 a year to afford a unit and homeowners need to earn $220,000 to buy a home, he said.

The town also has to move forward with larger-scale affordable housing developments such as the one proposed at the former Marceline property, he said. The town needs to work on infrastructure improvements so these developments can move forward without negatively affecting the neighborhoods where they are located, he said.

He also called for more communication with residents on wastewater issues.

“I’d like to be on the board to work together collegially and get things done for our residents,” Kelleher said.

The annual town election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20.