SALEM — When Mayor Kim Driscoll first took office in 2006, the city was suffering from a slew of economic problems.
Record deficits, poor financial management and a bad bond rating all painted a picture of a city past its prime. Known then for its floundering manufacturing industry, Salem’s downtown at the time was blighted by empty storefronts and rundown public parks.
The situation had become so dire, in fact, that the city was borrowing money just to pay the salaries of its teachers and police officers.
“There were a lot of institutionalized bad habits here that needed to be corrected,” Driscoll said, referring to actions of former officials who, as she put it, “cut corners at times.”
Now, 14 years later under Driscoll, Salem has witnessed a burst of economic growth that has helped redefine the city’s reputation, attracting a new wave of tourists fascinated by its infamous past and drawing in residents who feel at home in the eclectic Witch City.
But change didn’t happen overnight.
After serving as Chelsea’s deputy city manager for several years, Driscoll said she was motivated to run for office in Salem — where she’d lived since attending Salem State as an undergraduate — in order to bring a level of transparency and open communication to local government.
Inspired by massive systemic changes she witnessed in Chelsea under its first city manager, Guy Santagate, Driscoll wanted to see Salem undergo a similar revitalization.
“We were working on this whole new form of government (in Chelsea),” she said. “Codes and ordinances, things that just didn’t exist. They were in receivership. Guy really was a steward of, ‘We’ve got to do things right. We can’t go back to the way we were.’
“I think that was pretty influential for me to be part of an effort where you could have good government and you could do good things, or you could have a government that doesn’t work as well as it should and doesn’t serve the people who live there at all.”
Following a tough election cycle where she beat out the incumbent mayor and a sitting city councillor-at-large, Driscoll — who was now Salem’s first woman mayor — immediately set out to revamp the city’s status quo.
In that time, Driscoll said she managed to turn Salem’s deficits into record reserve funds and saved taxpayer money by finding efficiencies through regionalization, reforming municipal health insurance, and bidding for public contracts.
New community boards were created, including the Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Council and the Salem State University Neighborhood Advisory Committee; investments were made in the city’s schools, roads and public spaces; and all government spending was made publicly accessible and transparent through a budget document.
The new team also pledged to better utilize Salem’s historic waterfront.
“We never looked back,” Driscoll said. “It’s really been about trying to play to Salem’s strengths. I think this place is amazing. I’ve worked in other places that would have given their eyetooth to have what Salem has, and it just didn’t feel like we were maximizing it.”
When asked how she managed her new role so efficiently, Driscoll partially credited her time as a member of Salem State’s women’s basketball team for heavily influencing her modernized leadership style. Working as a team, she said, was instrumental to implementing the kinds of changes she envisioned when she first took office.
“People talk about, ‘What’s your management style?’ It’s being part of a team,” she said. “Building up the people around you, finding out what their strengths are, recognizing what they don’t do well, and then having a really strong effort towards a common goal.
“I don’t think there’s anything better than that, to do it with other people … Sometimes you can’t always build a consensus, but you’ve got to figure out a way to move forward.”
Today, one of Driscoll’s biggest ongoing projects remains Salem’s waterfront, which she said hosts a large portion of the city’s untapped potential to improve the local community and attract more tourism.
“We sort of turned our back on the water, but we’re a coastal community,” she said. “That’s the great age of Salem.”
Driscoll said focusing on the harbor and implementing a ferry service would provide a visitor base and help support retail and local restaurants. Salem’s current Harbor Plan will determine how to build out 45 acres around the waterfront in a way that “makes sense for (the) community long-term,” Driscoll said.
Although the city still faces issues, including a looming affordable housing crisis, Driscoll said her love for Salem stems from the fact that people of all backgrounds feel at home in the city, and she hopes to find a solution that works for all its residents.
“I think there’s something about Salem, that you don’t have to be born here to love this place. For me, (it’s important to) make sure some of the housing issues and concerns center around inclusivity,” she said. “For 400 years, we saw different people, different backgrounds, different income levels. I like to say we’ve had our struggles — we weren’t so good to women in 1692 — but it’s a place that has a history of being inclusive and has learned a hard lesson around inclusion when mob rule takes over. It’s important, I think, that we maintain that value system here.”