Milton Councilwoman Annette Babich to step down

Milton Councilwoman Annette Babich is stepping down a little more than a year into her term. Mayor John Collier announced Babich’s resignation at town council’s July 24 meeting.

Babich said she is stepping down due to conflicts of interest with a new role she has at a New York-based financial firm. Her last duty is overseeing the moving of the murals project, which had been in Mill Park, to other locations around town. Babich said that work would be completed within the next week or so. 

“The public art initiative is very important to me, and I am proud to see all the art all around town,” she said. 

Per town code, Collier will choose a new council member to finish the remainder of Babich’s term, which runs through 2025. Town council must vote on Collier’s choice.

Born in the Philippines, Babich moved to New York City in 1972 and lived there until 2018. Her career in New York was in wedding and events planning and production. She and her partner, Mal Meehan, moved to Milton in 2018 after discovering the town by accident when they were thinking of retiring in Lewes. They bought a house on Chestnut Street that they turned into Inn The Doghouse, a popular bed and breakfast. 

Babich and Meehan quickly became involved in the Milton community, with Babich serving as a board member of the Milton Historical Society and Milton Theatre. Meehan, a visual artist, created multimedia works for the theater and contributed a painting to the murals project. Babich put her event-planning skills to use as well, organizing the bi-annual Dog Days of Summer festival, which combines live music, food and drink, local vendors and dogs available for adoption through Doggone Happy Animal Rescue. The event helped raise money for the rescue, as well as the Milton Fire Department and Milton Community Food Pantry. 

Babich ran for and won a seat on town council in 2022, and was instrumental in the creation of the town’s economic development committee, which she chaired. The committee spearheaded the public art displays in Mill Park, helped Milton become a national Main Street affiliate and is currently working on a town branding project. Babich said work on both of those projects should continue under whoever her successor as chair might be. 

“I loved working with the economic development committee and will miss working with them. We had a nice group of people, and we were able to accomplish many things in a very short time,” she said. “It was very satisfying to see our hard work come to fruition, and good to know that we, the community, can get involved and make a difference.”