Dear Beverly Residents and Voters,

This is Mayor Mike Cahill.  I have always been deeply invested in Beverly, and today I ask for your support and your vote to continue serving as Beverly’s Mayor for the first four year term in our city’s history.  From childhood, our parents instilled in my brothers and me a love for this community and a commitment to actively serve to make Beverly the great place that it is today.  Our father served for several years on the Beverly City Council, and founded and volunteered with the Centerville Improvement Society.  Our mother volunteered with Cub Scouts, the schools, booster clubs, and more.  After our Dad passed away at a young age, our mother taught in the Beverly Public Schools for nearly 20 years while raising my brothers and me.

I’ve always called this community we love my home.  I’ve been blessed to attend, teach, and coach in the Beverly Public Schools.  I served our City in the State Legislature, and have volunteered in many capacities throughout the years.  My greatest honor has been serving as Beverly’s Mayor for the last 12 years.

I am the right person to lead our great city forward during these uncertain times at the national level.  With deep relationships at all levels of government and across our business and non-profit communities, I have the experience and the know-how to get things done.

 I also know Beverly – our people, our neighborhoods, our values, our needs.  I am determined that this hometown we all love will continue to be a place where everyone is welcome and is safe to live their lives free from discrimination, a place that people can discover and choose to call home.  Together, we can ensure that Beverly continues to evolve in the coming years to meet all our residents’ needs, while still preserving what makes our community special.  I am invested in Beverly and want to continue to share this journey with you as your Mayor.

Every day, I carry my lifelong commitment to public education and my deeply personal investment in the Beverly Public Schools with me.  I carry this same commitment to delivering all the critical services the people of Beverly need and rely on.  Holding close to my heart the oath I swore as Mayor to serve our great community, I regularly seek and value community input and guidance.  I engage, listen, and evaluate, and to the very best of my abilities, make all decisions based on what is in the best interests of our community, now and in the future.

In the coming year and over the next four years, I am the leader who can best position our schools for educational greatness for all Beverly children.  As your Mayor, my Administration has always strongly supported our schools, increasing the budget from $48 to $85 Million – a $37 Million increase in 12 years, with nearly $28.5 Million of this total being local tax dollars.  Since the state has fallen short in meeting their obligation to the children of Beverly, I continue fighting today for changes to the way Massachusetts funds education, especially Special Education costs.  I have been working with the Healey-Driscoll Administration and Legislative leadership, as well as with my fellow Mayors and other municipal leaders, to reform education funding to finally support local school districts well enough that we can appropriately address all our children’s needs.

As your Mayor, I am fighting for the investments our train line and public transportation system need to help strengthen both our local and state economies and keep Massachusetts economically competitive for the next 100 years.  This is critical to ensuring Beverly meets our housing needs and remains the thriving livable community we love.  I fight every day to move critical projects forward; including the state’s bridge replacements in Ryal Side (Hall-Whitaker and Kernwood Bridges), the Varian Corporation contamination clean-up, both on and downgradient from their campus, the road improvements the Brimbal Avenue neighborhood need (the new roundabout and the highway overpass), and the ongoing Bridge St. reconstruction and National Grid electric transmission line projects, both scheduled for completion this year.

I am the only candidate for Mayor with the proven ability to expertly manage the over $180 Million city budget, the only candidate who knows how to navigate the challenges this city will face over the coming four years.

On the day I took office, Beverly had $750,000 in our Rainy Day fund.  I have built this critical resource that will be needed to fund our schools and essential city services during the next recession, to over $23 Million today.

For the last 12 years, I have built, balanced, and managed our City’s budget – ensuring our residents and local businesses receive outstanding city services.  I have built strong cash reserves, while also using cash to pay for needed city projects without borrowing.  Projects like:

• Our new Computer Aided Dispatch system for Beverly’s 911 Emergency Call Center
• A new ladder truck for our Fire Department
• 2 new softball fields, a new track and new turf field with stands and lights at Beverly High School
• Paving more city streets
• LED street light project, improving energy efficiency and saving taxpayers money
• New floor for North Beverly Fire Station to support fire truck
• Creation of Simon St. parks for children and families in the heart of downtown

We have done this while carrying strong cash reserves year to year which, together with our Rainy Day funds, will carry us through the next recession.  Further, we have formalized our strong financial policies, and we’ve upgraded Beverly’s bond rating to AA+ during my tenure.

A sampling of further accomplishments under my leadership:

• Beverly’s downtown and waterfront are thriving, with thanks to many valued partners
• We have invested in public safety, adding a 4^th staffed fire truck and putting more police on the street with a focus on traffic safety
• We created the Mayor’s Summer Literacy Program, providing over 1000 Beverly Public School children the past 11 summers with literacy classes each morning, breakfast and lunch, and summer camp in the afternoons (special thanks to partners the Greater Beverly YMCA and Beverly Public Schools)
• We created the Senior Tax Work off program, to help Beverly senior homeowners afford to stay in your homes
• We have leveraged numerous state and federal grants and, together with local money, spent $100 Million in 12 years to address long needed road, sidewalk, and intersection repaving and improvements
• We have improved safety for all users of our roads: pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, with intersection and road design improvements, new bike lanes, and by increasing the number of Police fulltime traffic safety officers from 1 to 3
• When first elected, I created the position of Grants Director; In 11 years, we have secured $80 Million in grant funds, delivering vastly more needed programming, services, and infrastructure improvements for Beverly
• We have increased staffing to provide critical supports and expanded services for Beverly’s seniors and Veterans
• We have greatly improved our city parks and play structures and built new playing fields for our youth and school sports teams
• We have built a world class Beverly Middle School and Beverly Police Station, both on time and under budget
• We have made significant strides in decarbonizing our city operations: our new police station operates on a geothermal ground source electric heating and cooling system, we operate 5 electric school buses with more to come, we sited 9 megawatts of solar arrays locally which provide clean, renewable energy to power city and school buildings, we implemented a municipal electrical aggregation program which saves Beverly residents and businesses money on their electric bills while increasing the amount of clean, renewable energy in our citywide electric supply
• We transformed the City’s vacant waterfront parcel, now home to Beverly’s first waterfront restaurant in 30 years and new public amenities
• We saved the historic former Briscoe Middle School, now renovated into 85 permanently affordable senior homes, a renovated community theatre space, and an improved public park
• We’ve increased affordable housing (with needed social work supports) for families, seniors, and adults with disabilities throughout the community
• We have supported and partnered with our many community-based non-profits, strengthening the safety net for our most vulnerable residents
• Recognizing the increased challenges faced by our young people, we are building the new Myles McPherson Youth Center, which will be much better equipped to meet the substantial needs of Beverly’s young people.

We have done all this and more, while at the same time solidifying Beverly’s financial strength and preparing our city to withstand future economic hard times. 

Serving the people of Beverly as our Mayor continues to be the great honor and privilege of my professional life.  Today, I am excited to announce that I am running for re-election as Mayor of Beverly, and I am ready to continue to lead our community forward into a bright future.  Beverly needs a strong, proven leader now more than ever.  I believe that person is me.  I am forever invested in this wonderful community and in you.  Please continue to invest in me.  Thank you.

Mayor Mike Cahill’s Re-Election Campaign will hold a Campaign Kick-off on Tuesday evening May 6^th from 5:30 – 8 PM at Backbeat Brewing Company, located at 31A Park St. across from the Beverly Depot train station.  Please join us.  For information or to get involved with Mike’s campaign, please go to mayormikecahill.org