METHUEN — Councilor Eunice Zeigler has delivered invocations at City Council meetings since she was first sworn in as a member in 2018.
Zeigler said that councilors have always opened meetings by seeking spiritual guidance and she is happy to carry on the tradition.
“I think it is so important to set the tone for our meeting, and brings us into a space of reflection and focus as we debate topics for the betterment of the city,” Zeigler said.
But now that she has been elected by her peers to serve as chair of the council, Zeigler will also be responsible for the more earthly practice of conducting meetings.
“My main goal is to ensure that there is focus and structure in all of our meetings, and to do that I plan to give an equal opportunity to all councilors to put forth projects and focuses for the council that we can look at, and ensure that there’s transparency and also that we can be productive,” she said.
Zeigler, who already set a precedent as the first person of color to be elected to the City Council, is now also the youngest woman to be chosen as its chair.
After serving as vice chair for the past year while councilor while D.J. Beauregard wielded the gavel, Zeigler told fellow members in December that she was interested in the top leadership spot.
“It was really important to me to make sure that in 2023, as we have a lot of complex projects coming down the line, bold economic development projects, that I run to support my colleagues so that we can do our best work in representing the city,” Zeigler said.
With two degrees from UMass Lowell, her professional life has been focused on development work at the city of Haverhill, the Lowell Housing Authority and the YWCA in Lawrence, where she is director of advancement.
“So I’m bringing my background in project management and administration and bringing all of those skills to the table to ensure that we’re able to get a lot of work done,” Zeigler said.
In the coming year, the council will be focused on the progress of projects funded by more than $46 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
“As the projects go along we may anticipate that some things are lower or higher in terms of actual project costs,” Zeigler said. “It will be something the council has expressed an interest in having conversations about. One of our main goals is ensuring fiscal responsibility in the city.”
Another major focus during 2023 will be the development of a new master plan for the city, which will rely on input from citizens, who are all invited to an initial meeting on Thursday, Jan. 26 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the cafeteria at Methuen High School.
“We’re going to be talking about that and encouraging the community to get involved in that conversation this fall,” Zeigler said.
“We have a master plan, but it is a little out of date.”
Zeigler is in the second and last year of her third term, which means she will have to step down from the council at the end of this year, while Beauregard is still in his second term and plans to continue serving.
Beauregard said he had toyed with the idea of running again for the chair this year, but chose not to because he felt it was important to give someone else a turn.
“I think there is a lot of value in elected officials doing their time in public service, making a difference, and not staying around too long,” Beauregard said.
He looks back with satisfaction at working with the mayor and council to draw up the list of projects that will be funded with ARPA money.
These include water and sewer investments that will benefit the city for years to come, and also taking 9 Branch St. by eminent domain to create space for Methuen’s pre-kindergarten programs.
But now that he is no longer in a leadership role, Beauregard appreciates the fact that he won’t have to think as much about parliamentary procedure and maintaining decorum at meetings.
“I feel a little more freedom to say what comes to my mind,” he said.
Like Zeigler, Beauregard was vice chair before he was chair, although Beauregard was nominated for the position five minutes into his first council meeting in January 2020.
“No one else wanted to do it,” he said. “Two others had been nominated.”
The vice chair’s formal role is to take over if the chair is sick or has a conflict of interest, but Beauregard said that when Zeigler was vice chair, she also saw when he needed help.
That included the night they had to leave the meeting room because fumes from a fresh coat of varnish made it uninhabitable, and Zeigler advised him to switch the meeting to zoom.
“She embraced that role of vice chair as being supportive,” Beauregard said.
“That’s something I attempted to do when I was vice chair.”
