Editor’s note: This story was update to correct dates.
METHUEN — A former New York City cosmetics executive, whose life was forever changed by 9/11, is now looking to open another chapter in her life with a bid for mayor.
In November, Barbara Stoebel, 67, will face off against Mayor D.J. Beauregard, who has served as mayor since the death of former Mayor Neil Perry, who Stoebel counted as a friend, last fall. She admits she lacks the name recognition of the current mayor but she pitches a mayorship based on listening and digging deep into city government to see what works and what doesn’t.
Stoebel said she was inspired to run since no one else had stepped up to challenge Beauregard. She said she wanted to make sure that at the very least he would have a challenger, adding that it is “dangerous” when incumbents face no opponents.
“That is not what democracy is about,” she said. “Democracy is about energizing the voters.”
Plus, she said, “I felt that he(Beauregard) would enjoy the competition.”
Still, she plans to win.
Sitting on the porch of the home her family has owned for generations, Stoebel talked about lowering taxes, encouraging business development and promising to spend more time listening to the community than they listen to her. She added she also was unafraid to investigate every aspect of the government and planned to use her business skills in city leadership.
She also pitched a rather unusual story.
Stoebel was raised in Methuen, graduating from what was then the Tenney High School in 1975. She started working behind the counter in retail stores at the Loop.
She eventually left the city to take an executive position at cosmetic giant Revlon in New York City. She had an apartment in Battery Park.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Stoebel lost her “zeal for capitalism,” she said.
She was on a plane, about to leave the tarmac for a business trip, when the towers came down. She explained it was right at the peak of her career.
Her neighborhood was destroyed and some people in her own building lost their apartments. Shaken and feeling disillusioned with corporate life she spent the next decade as a dog walker before returning home to Methuen.
“I ended up having more fun, I was the healthiest I have ever been and I learned a great deal about the community I had lived in for the past 12 years,” she said.
Since then she has also gone back to school and pursued a masters degree in public administration at Merrimack College.
She brings with her decades of experience running the show as well as working behind the counter.
“I have no aspirations of greatness, I just have aspirations of leadership,” said Stoebel.
She advocated for greater tax breaks for seniors, particularly for those who have made the city their home for a long period of time.
“We have to recognize it (high taxes) is a burden to many seniors,” added Stoebel.
Alongside taxes, Stoebel also wants the city to put up more of a fight against the aggressive development at Tuscan Village in Salem, N.H., that has turned it into a popular destination, including for Methuen residents.
“What they have done is extraordinary,” said Stoebel.
She hopes to emulate it.
“The city center of Methuen is a diamond in the rough,” she said. “I think we can really make it spectacular and interesting.”
She suggested closing down the center of town on weekends and offering music and festivities there.
If elected, Stoebel would oversee hundreds of employees across many departments. She said the job of a leader is to find and elevate good employees.
“When I see that people are really interested in what they do and they are good at what they do, I just want them to get better. What are the tools that you need? What are you missing?” she said. “I believe in promoting from within.”
Stoebel voiced concerns about school maintenance issues that have creeped into the spotlight since last winter, making headlines right after issues with rats at the AMC theatre also made news.
“That does not entice potential homeowners to want to move into your community,” she said.
Stoebel would like Methuen to be a place where parents can send their kids to public school knowing they will not be educated in buildings with rats or rat droppings.
She cited by name and praised a janitor she remembered from school and talked about sanitation workers who kept rats out of her apartment in New York City.
“My observation is that it has to do with the people that are doing the work,” she said.
She said in order to solve sanitary issues the city might need to retrain staff and have more discussions with students.
“I think we need to teach the kids in school about cleanliness all over again,” she added. “If there is no eating in the classroom, that means there is no eating in the classroom, end of conversation.”
To address financial issues in the city, Stoebel said she would look through the budget with a “fine tooth comb.” The next step would be to talk to the people responsible for the budget and ask questions.
“I think that every answer is in that budget,” she explained. “The budget has to be done to perfection.”
She said the city’s financial troubles have real consequences and have impacted city employees whose livelihood depends on the budget. Stoebel said there are teachers who don’t always know if they will have a job the following year.
“That’s not fair to the teacher and that’s not fair to the kids,” she said.
She also wants to reduce the financial burden on parents and teachers, such as buying school supplies.
“We have two burdens, we put it on the parents and then on the teachers,” she said. “Asking both to do out of pocket purchasing for the students.”
This also puts pressure on kids if the parents don’t buy the correct product.
She hopes to become the city’s second female mayor and added she is used to having to compete in a male dominated arena like she did in the corporate world.
“I would sit in these discussions about my budget and I would be the only female at the table with all the C’s around,” said Stoebel.
There she said she struck a balance between being cocky and being intimidated.
“I have never been afraid to raise my hand and I say I don’t know that,” she added. “If you love learning, saying you don’t know something is not a sign of defeat.”
Methuen is home to several historic buildings including city hall and the historic Searles Estate. She is critical of the city’s continued use of the old city hall as well as how the city purchased the Searles Estate.
“It’s not really welcoming for seniors or moms with strollers,” she said. “It’s a nightmare and it’s not the right building for a city of 50,000 people.”
On the purchase of Searles Estate, she has questions.
“I am not quite sure why the city bought it without having a vision,” she explained.
Stoebel continued that she had heard many people asking on the campaign trail about what the city would do for the city’s veterans. She floated potentially leveraging the estate to their benefit.
Beauregard’s opponent last year for mayor, James Sarcione, has instead sought a city council seat this election cycle.