2025 Nantucket Town Election: Select Board Candidates

On the eve of the 2025 Nantucket town election, the Current invited the five candidates for the two open seats on the Select Board to share their platform and top priorities with voters in 600 words or fewer.

The polls will be open at Nantucket High School from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. this Tuesday, May 20th.

Below are the candidates' statements, posted in alphabetical order:

Mary Chalke: 

I first came to Nantucket 56 years ago, and I have owned my home in Madaket for more than three decades. I have worked on the island as a physical therapist, a professional chef, artist, a volunteer at Our Island Home, and a volunteer at The Warming Place. I have two sons and two grandchildren. I enjoy walking and cycling our trails and sailing. As one of the founders of the group Nantucket Residents Against Turbines, I was one of the earliest voices sounding the alarm about the offshore wind projects proposed and under construction southwest of the island. I want to run for Nantucket Select Board for many reasons.

I will improve the two-way communication between citizens and our government. I feel that in some cases, the peoples’ preferences have not been heard. I will advocate for more public input, transparency and accountability. I want to protect historic Nantucket and its fragile environment.

The current surge of development with its risks to our environment and infrastructure, makes this a critical time and election. The OSW, (offshore wind) construction, has polluted our island. There are plans for 1,400 turbines. Large sections of a collapsed, shattered 60-ton blade remain on the seabed, discharging fiberglass and microplastics into our water. Our marine life is washing up dead on our beaches, at a rate never seen before. We must advocate for halting Vineyard Wind’s construction and call for the immediate removal of 60 defective blades. The time is now to exit the Good Neighbor (hush money) Agreement, which currently commits us to support, and not oppose or interfere with, the construction of four more Vineyard Wind projects of up to 500 turbines.

Our infrastructure is overstretched. Our public water’s supply State of Emergency from PFAS contamination, our overtaxed electrical grid with two recent major cable failures, the poor state of our roads and our eroding wastewater treatment plant, are reasons to slow our current surge of development.

Our unique and cherished conservation properties, our marine environment, and our famed identity, are all under tremendous pressure. As a National Historic Landmark and a world renown wildlife sanctuary, we need the highest level of protection and adherence to environmental law, from our federal, state and local agencies. With deep research and passion since 2019, I have fought to raise awareness of the rushed permitting and harmful risks of the Vineyard Wind projects, in an effort to protect Nantucket’s environment and community.

I ask for your vote to continue my work defending Nantucket as a member of the Select Board.

Matt Fee:

My parents saved everything. I just unearthed my campaign mailer, March 26, 2001. “I’m Matt Fee and I’m running for Selectman. I’m not a politician. I am a native, a father, a homeowner, and a businessman. I care deeply about this island and its future. And in the past, I’ve worked hard on various community projects with some tangible results: the Delta Fields, the Comprehensive Plan, Nantucket Student Lacrosse and the Adult Soccer League. Until recently, we had no choice but to be a community and work for the common good. When you listen to Toppy (Alvin Topham) or my dad, or read Bob Mooney’s recent book, the picture they paint of the old days is a bleak one. There were few jobs and not a lot of money. There was a lot of bartering because often the Coofs paid us the next summer. The decisions made were often out of necessity and mainly for survival. There was a real feeling of community because there had to be. But now, nearly everyone I talk with thinks we’re losing this sense of community. I feel it. We all do.

We need to build consensus. When I chaired Comprehensive Plan meetings, I made a point of not moving on until everyone agreed. That’s because I believe two things. One, we won’t get anything done unless everyone is heading in the same direction and we all agree on our future. And two, I believe we can make decisions where everyone wins – if we, as islanders, take care of the island, it will take care of us.

I care about what makes Nantucket unique. We fight passionately about our history, open spaces, and uncrowded beaches. But some of us have forgotten that one thing, above all, makes us different. Our local character. Our year-round community. That’s one of the reasons people from off-island come here. If we lose that because families who have grown up here no longer can afford to live here, everything we love about Nantucket will be up for grabs - because there won’t be a vital year-round community left to protect it.

We can all win.The island’s future is not a zero-sum game. One Nantucketer’s profit does not, by definition, have to mean another’s loss. I believe that if one islander loses, we all lose. To me, “taking care of number one” means taking care of the community.

Nantucket decides. We all keep hearing it’s too late, it’s illegal, we can’t afford to do something. I disagree. It’s time for us to start working together to fashion a future of our choosing. I will work with anyone and everyone to forge and implement Nantucket-specific solutions. I do not want to live and work in a community with 30,000 cars, no scallops, and a workforce that lives in America and commutes here daily. If you feel the same way, please vote for me on April 3^rd.”

I can’t claim I’m not a politician. My hair’s gray. I’ve learned the speed of government. “Politics”; building consensus toward common goals, is critical to achieve meaningful changes.

30,000 cars at peak. Yikes. NRTA’s free. We have scallops, PFAS, and wind turbines. There’s plenty to do. Keeping the town in 40B safe harbor, creating town employee housing that’s fair to both recipients and taxpayers, forging a STR path that allows traditional use without inadvertently opening the floodgates, understanding the costs of major decisions; applying fiscal common sense to preserve quality of life on Nantucket.

I bring experience and vision to the Select Board. If re-elected, I will be a fair, independent voice.

Brook Gibbs:

Dear Nantucket, I think it is clear to all of us, that our leadership needs to evolve. It needs to change. It needs to be much more conscious, and it needs to be operating with a well-equipped, full set of cards. It is NOT.

Our town Government needs to think smarter, harder, and look more deeply for the solutions. Trace the cause from the effect, and realize the truth about the past, how we got to the present, and what we need to do for the future. Our town government needs to stop hiding from our mounting issues; created by its apathy, ignorance, and do-nothing attitude… delaying the inevitable.

Nantucket, I have solutions to many of our problems, and I know that it is going to take a LOT to convince a large amount of you (the community), that it is the right path, and for the right reasons.

I also know that we have to ACT quickly on issues like STRs or it is going to be very BAD for everyone. We need to do that NOW. I believe I can create consensus, with community involvement in a town meeting context.

I know that we have to deal with PFAS, the Wind Projects, and the need for more energy from the Cape. I believe I have a way to solve all three, potentially, with one device. There are also other smaller, less costly solutions that are viable immediately.

We need ENFORCEMENT, and we don’t have it. I will be “that guy”. Why? Because I know I can be, and also be the most understanding. I have great local knowledge, and the local respect to get the job done. I know I can get change implemented. It is actually very easy if we all choose to come clean, rationalize, and cooperate.

Maybe we also need another town manager, and/or a Mayor? I think so. Better checks and balances.

We need accountability, transparency, and proactivity from the Select Board in facing the issues that go unspoken and unaddressed. I will do that from day one; publicly and with absolute certainty that I am protecting Nantucket.

I believe we should also have 4 town meetings a year; two for presentation, discussion, compromise, and collaboration; and two for legislation and articles. This will improve clarity, direction, intent, and confirm legality. It will also improve the probability of consensus and passing of articles.

I believe we need to address the number of seasonal houses on-island, the amount of man-hours to service them, and the amount of resources available/necessary to do so. We need to rationalize our workload, our work/life balances, and our natural resources and logistics. We need to do it publicly. We are so far over capacity, it is unsustainable to say the least.

We need to enable our community to do for itself, instead of completely depending on off-island services, labor, and resource providers. We are wasting our own community resources and intangible wealth, on the apathy of our town government to act, and to look out for OUR best comprehensive interests.

Ultimately Nantucket, all of these issues, obstacles, and pains, are caused by our leaders choosing to do whatever causes the least waves. We have to face the unpleasant things that actually fix the problems. To do that, we need leaders who have an actual plan and who WILL take the lead in resolving it, not ones who continue to abide and decide by the status quo of IYKYK.

I am that person, and I will loyally serve you Nantucket, as my family has for 360 years.

Brooke Mohr:

As my first term on the Select Board comes to a close and I look forward to the potential for a second term, I am thinking a lot about what I have learned about the role and the responsibilities of the office. The Select Board acts in partnership with Town Administration as the “executive branch” of our local government. We establish the strategic priorities for the Town and establish the policies that guide those priorities.

As well-prepared as I was three years ago, after having attended 4 years of Select Board meetings, I am still learning something new every day in this job. I have invested a great deal of time and energy into developing a more complete understanding of how the various pieces of Town government fit together, digging deeper and deeper as both the routine and the more complex issues come before the Board. The process of discussion within the Board and input from the public are critical to helping me make the best decisions I can for the community as a whole.

In a second term, I am most excited to work on the suite of tools and incentives we need to support the creation of more deed-restricted year-round housing units. We are within reach of our SHI list requirement under chapter 40(b), so we can shift our focus to other housing types that our community desperately needs, including more home ownership. I will work with the Planning Board to develop a clearer guidance for property owners about the options they have to contribute more to the year-round housing inventory.

I am proud of my effort to bring additional focus to the human service needs of the community and look forward to the upcoming needs assessment that will guide the Board to effectively support the health and welfare of our neighbors. Another issue that needs our continued focus is coastal resilience. Advance planning to protect our critical public infrastructure has already begun, thanks to the groundwork laid by the coastal resilience plan that is now actively being implemented.

Nantucket is known for finding innovative solutions to challenges that we face due to our isolation. We are at the forefront of response to PFAS – years ahead of most of our municipal counterparts in the Commonwealth. We must continue to be vigilant and creative. Monitoring of water quality, managing our waste streams and other efforts to protect our amazing and fragile ecosystem must remain priorities in the coming years. We need to improve the collaboration between the Select Board and the other Boards and Commissions that share responsibility on these critical matters.

It is my sincere hope that the voters will allow me to build upon the experience of the last 3 years and continue to bring my collaborative leadership approach to the Select Board.

Clifford Williams

I was born and raised in Nantucket, working construction most of my life, while being in aviation for 43 years. I presently work at the FAA here at the Nantucket Airport, and I'm the last technician for the FAA. I take care of nav aids and communications. I was
on the Finance Committee for nine years. I was on the Island Home committee. I was on the fire station committee. I've run 15 times, probably more than anybody, to try and get on the Board of Selectmen. The greatest thing about that is, I think the same issues that challenged us on my first run still challenge us, which is one of the biggest reasons I continue to run. We have to put some of these problems to rest. We haven't been able to figure out the Island Home. I don't know why. I have my own ideas. The landfill, I think, is in crisis state. Our roads have deteriorated to the point where I'm I'm not sure we can keep up. 

I just hope we can get back to the fundamentals and just try to solve some of these issues as a town. I know we're looking at coastal resiliency and all these other different issues, but I really think we should learn how to fix potholes and fix the landfill and fix the island home before we take on any other big challenges.