(The following leter was issued by retiring Watertown Town Councilor Marilyn Devaney to her supporters.)
Thank you for all the heartwarming calls, messages and gestures of support. I am trying to get back to everyone who has called. I want to also thank the many friends who were ready to support my campaign for Town Council president. I was confident that I could win. I would be in full gear to have an organized campaign — which I have not done in many years. Your calls of disappointment in this endeavor have touched my heart. I appreciate your understanding of my decision.
I am retiring from the Town Council. I am not retiring from being there for you. I will continue to receive your calls with your concerns — and act on those concerns — to give assistance and seek solutions to your problems. My Watertown office hours to meet with you will continue as your Governor’s Councilor. I will still be representing you as your elected constitutional officer and advocate.
I will continue to advocate for you in Watertown as well as in the State House in any way I can. In the state, I have been pleased to work with various governors to benefit Watertown. For example, Governor Cellucci reversed his veto on providing $3 million for scrubbers to prevent mercury emissions at the Watertown’s contracted Trash Facility (NESWC incinerator), saving taxpayers’ money. When Watertown was seeking a grant for the Fowle House, I was pleased to advocate for the grant by educating Governor Romney on its historical importance to the whole Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I informed him of how the Fowle House was the first meeting place of the Governor’s Council — where the Council signed the first treaty of the newly-formed United States of America with the Micmac Indian Nation. I was honored when Lt. Governor Kerry Healey called me to give me the news — to inform Watertown that the Watertown Public Library grant was approved.
I will finish my term on the Town Council at the end of the year. I will not retire from representing your needs and the needs of Watertown.
