EASTHAM — Though Suzanne Bryan grew up in Eastham, returning to the Cape 10 years ago from Arizona wasn’t an easy transition. One of the ways she found community again was by participating in civic life, but the difficulties faced by younger residents like her — she is 35 — were never far from her mind.
“One of the saddest things is children going through Nauset who are not able to return home if they want to,” she says. “What does that do to your community, to effectively separate families because they can’t afford to live here?”
Bryan previously served on the conservation commission, the T-Time Development Committee, and the since-disbanded water management committee. Though she credits Nauset High teacher Lisa Brown with sparking her civic consciousness, she got involved in local politics out of frustration with the slow pace of change.
“Locally, we can make such a meaningful impact,” she says. Her interests in municipal policy are broad, from student loan relief to upzoning to climate resiliency. “I really love seeing how stuff works and how you can directly impact the lives of your neighbors with some of the policies that you set forth.”
She was elected to the select board by running uncontested in 2022 with fellow newcomer Jerry Cerasale. Now, the two are seeking re-election in competition with Brian Earley and Dave Hobbs.
Bryan sees “service and facilitation” as central to her role on the select board. “We have amazing boards and committees, we have amazing staff, and they really do a lot of the heavy lifting,” she says. She says she often asks herself, “How can I facilitate moving the town’s strategic plan forward, and how can I support staff in the goals that they have for their departments?”
Bryan sees one example of collaboration in Eastham’s recent zoning reforms, which she cites as among the select board’s greatest accomplishments during her tenure. Those reforms included tying allowable house size to lot size, loosened rules on building duplexes, a limit on short-term rentals, and by-right construction of ADUs.
She was keen to share credit for those policies with the zoning board of appeals and zoning task force. “I’m proud of Eastham for being proactive about it and making incremental changes,” she says. This year, the zoning task force is “coming back having done a lot of work for rezoning North Eastham,” she says, referring to Article 7A on the town meeting warrant, which formalizes a framework for zoning a corridor along Route 6 for commercial areas while “keeping Eastham looking like Eastham.”
Another point of pride was the select board’s vote to reform “Timothy Smith” college loans, under which Eastham residents can receive up to $4,000 per year. In October 2024, the board voted to set a zero-interest rate for loans and designate unpaid loans as uncollectable — policies that would have benefited Bryan, who was a Timothy Smith loan recipient in the past.
Bryan doesn’t shy away from having “really strong viewpoints,” including on the select board’s ability to set a policy agenda. “We need to protect the environment,” she says. “We need to work on housing. We need to work on climate resiliency and value the public library and education.”
She has strong views on the residential tax exemption, which Bryan supports as “another tool from the state” for housing needs, she says. “There’s a misconception that this will solve the housing issue or provide affordable housing. There’s no silver bullet that will solve that issue,” she adds, but implementing the RTE could “make it easier for residents to stay in their homes if they want to.”
On the other hand, Bryan is ardently opposed to petitioned article 9A on the Eastham warrant, which she described as “offensive.” That article asks the select board to hire auditors for an “assessment of the town’s three-year tax needs” before changing any revenue or tax policies.
“It shows a general lack of understanding of how municipal government works,” she says. Given that the select board already prepares a five-year strategic plan for the town, she says, the proposal for a three-year independent assessment is “redundant.”
Some people expect municipal government to work like a private business, she says. “It’s not a private business. We’re bound by state law” as a town government to serve the public, she says.
As its youngest member, the select board needs her perspective, says Bryan. “I went to this elementary school and high school, and I’m the only member who doesn’t own their own home,” she says. No matter the policy area, “I am interested and invested in all of it.”
