Editor’s note: Because of a fact-checking error, the print edition of this article, dated March 17, reported that the date of the annual town election had been changed to June 21. In fact, there will be a special election on June 21 for voting on town meeting overrides. The regular annual election of town officers remains scheduled for May 2.
WELLFLEET — Longtime select board member Helen Miranda Wilson announced last week that she would be leaving the board following the annual town election on May 2, even though she still has two years remaining of her three-year term.
The next day, she was no longer so sure of that decision.
Wilson, 74, said she was stepping down because of a health issue that would make it difficult for her to continue in office and meet other personal commitments.
“In the last couple of weeks, I’ve had new information about my health,” said Wilson at the select board’s March 8 meeting. “It’s not cancer, but I have something else, and because of that and other obligations, other than this job, which I love, I’m not going to continue after this year.”
The terms of board members Michael DeVasto and Janet Reinhart expire in May. Both DeVasto and Reinhart said at the March 8 meeting that they planned to run for re-election.
The following day, March 9, Wilson turned on her computer to find an email from Reinhart saying she had decided not to seek another term.
March 11 was the last day to take out nomination papers for this spring’s town election, and Monday was the last day to turn them in with the required 20 signatures. Reinhart did not turn her nomination papers in. That means there will be only one select board candidate on the ballot — DeVasto — although there are two open seats to be filled.
During a phone interview late last week, Wilson said the situation left her reconsidering her own decision to step down.
One year ago, Wilson was the only person on the ballot for select board though there were two available seats. Incumbent Justina Carlson had not turned nomination papers in to the town clerk by the deadline. Carlson later decided to run as a write-in candidate. She was defeated by John Wolf, another write-in candidate.
“The question is, with nobody stepping up for Janet’s position, how can I, in good conscience, not continue?” Wilson said. “On the other hand, how can I in good conscience not step back and deal with my personal and professional obligations, which are pressing and necessary?”
Wilson said her decision to leave the board had been tough, because she loves her work for the town. She is also grappling with the thought that she isn’t fulfilling her three-year commitment.
“Do I feel happy that people voted for me for three years and I may not complete it? No,” she said. “I was so ready to go for another three years, but I have a health issue that very recently got a lot worse.”
Wilson declined to go into more detail about her health.
After getting Reinhart’s email on March 9, “I thought I’d continue for two years,” Wilson said. “But by Friday, I thought ‘What am I doing?’ If something did happen, I would leave huge professional obligations just sitting there.”
Wilson’s service on several boards reflects her longtime commitment to Wellfleet, the town where she was born and where she returned after a career as an artist in New York. “I’m in my 23rd year of working for the town,” she said.
She has served on the zoning board of appeals, planning board, housing authority, and water advisory committee. Wilson was also a longtime member of the shellfish advisory board and served on the charter review committee. In May, she will have completed 10 years on the select board.
There are no contested races on this year’s Wellfleet town election ballot. Joan Levine Zukas filed nomination papers for the one vacancy on the elementary school committee. Incumbents are running unopposed for the other offices on the ballot: Dan Silverman for moderator, Diane Reynolds for library trustee, Bonnie Robicheau for cemetery commission, and Michael Parlante and Richard Robicheau for constable.
