METHUEN — John "Jack" Burke pores over public records, speaks at just about every City Council meeting, and hopes to become a councilor himself.
The 59-year-old former Air Force staff sergeant announced he intends to run for one of the two West District City Council seats. Assuming he and the other hopefuls all collect the 50 signatures required to get on the ballot, he will square off against incumbents Deborah Quinn and Jeanne Pappalardo, as well as newcomer Ed Guy, a retiring Methuen police captain.
Burke said he's motivated by the need to conserve undeveloped land in the West District.
"I'd like to know that 100 years from now, somebody will walk the same paths that I walked and see the same trees," he said.
He took home a copy of Mayor William Manzi's proposed fiscal year 2010 budget to dissect it and search for pork barrel spending.
Burke joked about how all the new development in Methuen seems to be restaurants.
"We're becoming the eatery for the Merrimack Valley," he said.
He'd like to see more industry, such as green companies, he said.
The items that Burke speaks about at council meetings run the gamut from land issues to development, to sewer and water issues to Robert's Rules of Order. He's always armed with facts and figures.
This would be Burke's second time running for West District councilor. He lost in the primary the last time around.
He plans to support legislation requiring the city to post all government contracts and financial transactions in an easily searchable Internet database showing the amount of individual payments, to whom each payment was made, and an explanation.
Burke's community involvement includes serving as webmaster for the Forest Lake Association, vice president of Citizens for a Better Government, being a member of MCTV22, serving on the Methuen superintendent of schools' educational task force, serving on the regulatory relief task force and serving on the sewer and water task forces.
Meet John "Jack" Burke
Age: 59
Address: 49 Canobieola Road
Family: Wife, Debra; sons, James, Christopher, Dustin; daughter, Danielle
Occupation: Unemployed (laid off from Analog Devices)
Education: Some college
Military service: 10 years in the Air Force
People who have taken out nomination papers to run in the Nov. 3 municipal election.
Mayor: Al DiNuccio, Kevin Thompson, William Manzi (incumbent)
City Councilor-at-large: Robert Miller, Jennifer Kannan (incumbent), Stephen Zanni (incumbent)
East District City Councilor: Patricia Uliano, Joseph Leone (incumbent), Larry Giordano (incumbent)
Central District City Councilor: Philip Lahey Jr. (incumbent), John Cronin Jr. (incumbent), Fadi Chahine
West District City Councilor: John Burke, Ed Guy, Deborah Quinn (incumbent), Jeanne Pappalardo (incumbent)
School Committee: Robert Vogler (incumbent), Jeri-An Batal, Gary Marcoux (incumbent), Evan Chaisson (incumbent), George Kazanjian (incumbent), Derek Jackson, Barbara Grondine (incumbent), Kenneth Henrick (incumbent)
Greater Lawrence Technical High School Committee: Raymond Begin, Thomas Grondine (incumbent)
Nevins Library trustee: Josephine Napolitano (incumbent), Arthur Nicholson (incumbent)
Source: City Clerk Christine Touma-Conway
