Incumbent Select Board Members To Face Challenge In May Election

CHATHAM – Incumbent select board members Dean Nicastro and Cory Metters will face a challenge in the May 16 annual election from resident Brian Phillips, who turned in signed nomination papers to run for one of the two three-year terms that will be on the ballot.

Phillips has been attending select board and other town committee meetings in the past few months to learn both about how local government works and to understand the major issues facing the community.

“There’s so many moving parts and so much information,” he said.

His main goal in running is to preserve “what makes Chatham great, keep it moving in the right direction,” he said. Among the major issues he sees facing the town are ensuring that seniors are treated with “the respect they deserve” and have adequate facilities and programs.

“Our COA is way behind all the other towns,” he said. Officials also need to get affordable housing projects now being formulated right, “so we don’t have to fix them later,” he said.

Ensuring that the town’s sidewalks are up to par is also important to Phillips, who is disabled, having lost a foot in a motorcycle accident.

Phillips, 37, moved to Chatham when he was 5 and went through the town’s school system. He attended college in Colorado. He sold cars and worked in cryptocurrency before moving back to town. An adaptive sports athlete, he played on the U.S. amputee hockey team in 2010, and currently works as a personal trainer and pickleball instructor.

“Basically, I love my town and love the people in it,” he said. “I want to do my civic duty” by running for office.

Nicastro and Metters are both seeking fourth terms on the board.

None of the other races on the annual election ballot are contested.

Running for re-election to a three-year term is moderator William Litchfield; housing authority member Alan Mowry is seeking another five-year term; Bradford Schiff is the sole candidate for a three-year term as one of Chatham’s representatives on the Monomoy Regional School District school committee.

For those not currently registered to vote, the last day to register to vote at town meeting or in the election is May 3; the town clerk’s office will be open until 5 p.m. to accommodate late registration. Absentee and early voting ballots will be available April 25 to the town clerk’s office.