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Mayor Mike Cahill and City Councilor Brendan Sweeney shared their visions, priorities at the Greater Beverly Chamber breakfast forum. BEVERLY, MA — Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill and City Councilor At-Large Brendan Sweeney shared their — at times competing — assessments of the challenges facing the city and its businesses, as well as their capacity to address those challenges, during the Greater Beverly Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum at A&B Burger. While Cahill took credit for the city being what he called "one of the most desirable, most welcoming, safest and strongest financial communities in this country," Sweeney challenged him several times — including on the size and efficiency of municipal government given the fiscal headwinds the city faces in the coming years. Sweeney made accessibility and accountability a main theme in his remarks, criticizing what he called the Cahill's administration's relative lack of transparency on the library renovation that the City Council ultimately voted down full funding for last year. Cahill countered that the state funding would have paid for the bulk of that renovation had it been allowed to go forward, while crediting the ability of himself and his staff to secure grant funding to address infrastructure and other municipal needs at a time when state aid is not keeping up with the demands on cities and towns. "Everyone in this community needs the leadership and the champion that we have now in me," said the 12-year incumbent seeking the city's first-ever four-year mayoral term. "I am grateful. Everyone in this community needs that champion and that support. And I want to be there for all of you." Beverly City Hall Renovation $25M-$27M Funding Request Expected In December What To Do With Beverly's Former Family Dollar Downtown Building? Sweeney cited his experience on the Council, as the assistant town administrator and finance director in Boxford, and his previous experience in the Baker Administration as strengths he will bring to a City Hall that he said is in need of a change. "I see areas where the current administration is coming up short," he said. "If I'm elected mayor, I will be responsive, I will be transparent, I will be forward-thinking and make sure that we plan for the future, and I will engage directly with our union employees." Sweeney challenged what he said was the growth of the City Hall workforce at a time when taxes are high and resources are increasingly strained. "We have the fourth-highest commercial tax rate in Essex County," Sweeney said. "What that tells me is that we need to look at controlling spending. ... In looking at the increase in staff, particularly in the mayor's office, that concerns me that we're adding people when maybe we could be serving core functions with a reduced workforce and with folks in essential roles." Both candidates shared their vision for downtown — and particularly the former Family Dollar location that the city obtained through a "friendly taking" in 2023 — with Sweeney advocating a hotel to bring more lodging and meals taxes downtown and support businesses, and Cahill pushing for more affordable housing to support business employees. "To be business-friendly is to be people-friendly," Cahill said. "We've worked incredibly hard and our housing opportunities are better. And, yet, it's still incredibly challenging for people to stay in Beverly if it's where they've begun, or coming to Beverly for a job, or because they want to live in this amazing community." Sweeney said it was important to communicate better with residents beyond "frequent robocalls" with the use of social media, podcasting, and other ways that a greater cross-section of residents can engage, and that as mayor, he would be "action-oriented, accessible and accountable," if elected. "Beverly is in the best financial condition that it's been in for many decades," Cahill said. "We have challenging times coming budgetarily. We know that from the federal and the state level. We have to do everything we can to facilitate the local investment that we can. We've seen money invested in our community, consistently year in and year out. "That's been the reason why we've been able to continue to deliver services in the way we have without the type of help we need from other levels of government."
