Two Candidates Apply For Appointment To Vacant Seat On Board Of Health

Nantucket Cottage Hospital chief nursing officer Amy Beaton and former town of Nantucket Health Department director Richard Ray have applied for appointment to the Board of Health seat recently vacated by long-time member Jim Cooper.

The appointment comes as a tense debate over a proposed artificial turf field slated for installation at Vito Capizzo Stadium continues to simmer. Cooper resigned in protest after the Select Board removed Ann Smith and Meridith Lepore, who had expressed criticism of the field, from the Board of Health during the first round of appointments last month. Tom Dixon, the Select Board’s previous representative to the Board of Health, did not run for re-election this year, meaning that incumbent Kerry McKenna is now the only member of the Board of Health who was serving when the turf field debate began last winter.

Ray, who also previously served as a health inspector for the town, has applied for a position on the Board of Health before.

“My interest in this board is to be a contributing source to the health and environmental concerns of Nantucket Island and additional global concerns as to both public and environmental health issues,” he wrote in his application.

Beaton applied for one of the two positions on the Board of Health that were available during the first round of committee appointments this year, but received no votes.

“I am interested in serving on the Board of Health because I care deeply about the health and well-being of the Nantucket community and would welcome the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to public health work on the island,” Beaton wrote in her application. “I am committed to thoughtful, evidence-informed decision-making that supports the health and safety of residents, visitors, and the broader island community.”

The position will be filled on August 5th as part of the second round of the Select Board’s annual committee vacancy appointments. The Select Board will also have to choose between three applicants for one seat on the Finance Committee and two applicants for one seat on the Affordable Housing Trust during the appointments.

The seat on the Finance Committee was made available by the resignation of Jill Vieth, who now serves on the Select Board and will vote on her replacement. The three applicants are Benjamin Reppert, who applied unsuccessfully for the Finance Committee and Conservation Commission during the first round of appointments; Capital Program Committee member and Planning Board alternate Howard Matz; and Kit Murphy, who applied for the Board of Health during the first round of appointments but withdrew before the vote.

The two contenders for the Affordable Housing Trust seat are incumbent Forest Bell and firefighter Ray DeCosta. DeCosta is the son of Select Board member Bob DeCosta, who indicated during Wednesday’s meeting that he will recuse from the vote on the Affordable Housing Trust appointment.

Former Coastal Resiliency Advisory Committee chair Mary Longacre and retired astrophysics professor Geoff Clayton will also compete for one seat on the Coastal Resiliency Advisory Committee, and Hanley Construction co-owner Thomas Garrette is the lone applicant for the vacant position on the Zoning Board of Appeals.