SHREWSBURY – Longtime Selectman and Vice Chair John Lebeaux has announced that he does not plan to seek reelection when his term ends in May.
He made his announcement during the Board of Selectmen’s Jan. 11 meeting.
“I’d like to thank [the voters] for their support,” he said while concluding his remarks. “I’d like to get back to work now.”
Lebeaux, who serves as the commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, has been involved in government since he was 18 and elected to Town Meeting.
He has served eight terms on the Board of Selectmen and was recently reelected to the board in 2019 alongside Chair John Samia.
Both Samia and Lebeaux’s seats are up for election in May, and with Lebeaux’s announcement, this means one seat will be filled by a new face.
According to his biography on the Department of Agriculture’s website, Lebeaux served as general manager for his family’s business, Shrewsbury Nurseries, for 26 years and served as Town Administrator for the Town of Princeton before he was appointed as Commissioner.
“I’m going to miss working with you, and I thank you for all of your service,” Selectman Maurice DePalo said to Lebeaux. “It really has been a pleasure working with you all these years.”
“We’ve had a whole generation of people that we’ve worked with who have now transferred, and I’m going to miss the stability of having somebody next to me saying, ‘Hey, didn’t we do something like that about three years ago,’” DePalo continued. “I want to thank you and congratulate you for your years of service. I appreciate it.”
Samia recognized Lebeaux for his public service and his thoughtfulness, intelligence and dedication.
“One of the most precious commodities we can give is our time, and you’ve done that for a long period of time,” Samia said. “You made our community a much better place to live.”
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