Penner brings a younger perspective to the council
Staff writer
When there was a movement to elect two Peabody council members who were not on the ballot, Bailey Penner assumed his role would be as an adviser in the process.
After weeks of the Peabody Forward Movement hoping for the city council to have a new set of ideas, members asked Penner, 25, and Andy Romine, 46, to run as a team.
It was, however, too late to get them on the ballot.
“It was a quick turnaround,” Penner, a psychologist, said. “I could sense that the energy was palpable. “It was not planned to run as a write-in. It was a spontaneous event.”
Penner said he never had thought about running for a council seat, let alone as write-in candidate.
“I like people,” he said. “I had a knack for it.”
Penner also has no ambitions to serve on the council long term.
“You get in for eight years, and you get out of it,” he said.
The community wants the council to have a type of energy that had been missing in previous councils, Penner said.
“We could sense the feeling that the public wanted to do something differently,” he said.
Penner is much younger than the rest of the council, and he hopes to bring a perspective with new ideas.
“Every 20 years, there is a change in perspectives,” he said. “It seems like each one of us has Peabody’s best interest at heart.”
Penner is excited by the opportunity to collaborate with city leaders. When working together, things can get done, he said.
“I am excited to clear the air and bury the axes as a collective group,” Penner said.
He said the city could improve the quality of life without creating crazy budgets that taxpayers cannot afford.
While growing up in Peabody, he saw what was well done and what needs improvement, he said.
He credited the community for the successes he has had in his life.
When Penner takes his seat on the council in about six weeks, he will start looking into ordinances and how they can be modified.
He pointed to a mowing ordinance. Nothing is in place for residents unable to do this type of work, he said.