EDITORIAL

Council endorsements

Posted 10/30/14

For seven out of the city’s nine wards, voters won’t have a choice for City Council. That’s because six of the incumbents and Kathleen Usler, who beat Ward 7 incumbent Charles Donovan Jr. in a …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in
EDITORIAL

Council endorsements

Posted

For seven out of the city’s nine wards, voters won’t have a choice for City Council. That’s because six of the incumbents and Kathleen Usler, who beat Ward 7 incumbent Charles Donovan Jr. in a Democratic primary, are running unchallenged in the general election.

In Ward 2, Thomas Chadronet will return to office by virtue of the fact that he narrowly beat Michael Zarum in the Democratic primary. And, while Republican Luelyn Jennings will appear on the ballot in Ward 8, in a telephone call on Friday she said she has withdrawn from the race for “personal reasons.” It was rumored Jennings would not run, but she never formally submitted a letter of resignation to the Board of Canvassers. Her withdrawal leaves incumbent Joseph Gallucci unchallenged.

Also without challengers are Joseph Solomon in Ward 4, Ed Ladouceur in Ward 5, Donna Travis in Ward 6 and Steve Merolla in Ward 9.

This leaves races in Ward 1, where incumbent and the only Republican on the council Steve Colantuono is in a contest with former School Committee member Patrick Maloney. In Ward 3, incumbent Camille Vella-Wilkinson faces Republican John Falkowski and the independent Harold Ouimette.

One would think, with eight Democrats and one Republican, City Council business would be cut and dry and forgone concluded, but that’s not the case.

Council meetings are long, repetitive and often argumentative. Much of the meetings are spent going into detail at excruciating length under the guise of due diligence and saving the taxpayers’ money when the city administration, for the most part, has already provided the answers. Council business moves slowly and is frequently used for grandstanding or as a court of inquisition. The recent example of questioning of City Finance Director Ernest Zmyslinski over refinancing city bonds is a case in point. Refinancing would have saved an estimated $2 million in interest payments. The council failed to act in a timely way, demanding more information on the proposal. Meanwhile, should interest rates move higher, the city could lose the chance of refinancing and the savings.

We mention this because it’s obvious that procedures need to change for the council to truly operate in the interests of the citizens. But, as evidenced by the lack of council candidates, change is not going to happen at the ballot box.

We hope Usler will bring fresh ideas and energy to the process. That would be a relief. But those people who should take the lead and set a new course of action are already assured of their place on the council for not doing that.

That said, we think Colantuono and Vella-Wilkinson are important players in setting a course and following it. We endorse their candidacies.

This is not to diminish the efforts of their opponents. Falkowski in Ward 3 and Maloney in Ward 1 have waged earnest campaigns and they do offer different points of view and alternatives to the incumbents.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here