NEWBURYPORT — With three candidates vying to become the city’s next Ward 6 city councilor race this fall, one of the candidates, Mary DeLai, explained why she felt compelled to run.
“I care deeply for our ward and our city and I believe I have the strongest qualifications of any Ward 6 candidate,” DeLai said.
With DeLai and two other Ward 6 candidates, James Eichhorst and Phil Cootey, returning nomination papers there will be a Sept. 16 primary election to whittle the field down to two. The three are looking to succeed Ward 6 Councilor Byron Lane who announced earlier this year he would not be seeking another term. The general election is Nov. 4.
DeLai, an Elmira Avenue resident, said she has 30 years of public sector experience to draw from, including serving as Wilmington’s school superintendent, chief financial officer, human resources director, energy and environmental policy analyst and climate resiliency manager.
Locally, she has served as a member of the Energy Advisory Committee and as one of Newburyport’s Whittier Tech School Committee members.
“This experience and this service will allow me to hit the ground running, should the voters of Ward 6 choose me to represent them,” DeLai said.
Asked about what kind of representation she would bring, she said she would work hard to establish two-way communication with her constituents.
“For this reason, I launched a constituent survey in May and learned that most of us share similar concerns. Broadly, these include safety, affordability, resiliency, and protecting the character of our neighborhoods,” DeLai said.
One of the biggest issues she has heard from her ward is about road safety and traffic enforcement.
“Ward 6 has many busy streets that lack sidewalks – including stretches of Moseley, Ferry and Storey Avenue. Also, the three roads intersection – our gateway to the city – is very dangerous,” DeLai said.
She said she would push to alter the city’s streets and sidewalks plan to focus more on those issues.
“I would also seek to advance the recommendations of Complete Streets Study by MVPC for addressing the three roads intersection,” DeLai said, referring to the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission.
Another issue she said is on the minds of many residents is rising property taxes.
“I’m confident we can continue to have excellent schools and strong municipal services while maintaining responsible budget increases,” DeLai said.
She said this issue falls into her area of expertise.
“I’ve been producing and managing municipal and school budgets for years. I hope to foster meaningful, albeit difficult, conversations about how we allocate our resources to address community needs and wants,” DeLai said.
Speaking about those on fixed income, she said she believes there are untapped resources to help them including increasing the abatement amount for the senior property tax work-off program, educating residents about the various property tax relief programs that currently exist, and exploring new taxation policies such as the residential tax exemption or split tax rate.
“I also hope to explore how we can best use the resources of the Affordable Housing Trust and the funds raised through the Community Preservation Act,” DeLai said.
She said she would also look to explore further affordable housing opportunities within the city.
Finally she said she would like to address climate issues, specifically the safety and reliability of the city’s water supply, claiming that 80 percent comes from the Artichoke Reservoir system.
“If the dam is overtopped, as it was back in January of 2024, the city could lose 80% of its water supply without a plan B. We must move forward quickly to build the bypass from Indian Hill to the Lower Artichoke pump station so we can isolate clean water from contaminated water,” DeLai said.
On a personal note, she said the matter of representation drove her to run.
“Sadly, no woman has ever won a regular election in Ward 6. Thirty years ago, Ilene Harnch served out the final year of her father’s term when he passed in office. Prior to that, and since then, no women have represented Ward 6 on the Council,” DeLai said.
She said she hopes to buck this trend.
“For this reason, I am proud to have been endorsed by the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus PAC and look forward to the opportunity to redress this long standing inequality,” DeLai said.