Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/tag/town-council/page/20/)
With the new term starting for the Town Council and School Committee, both boards elected their officers and announced committee assignments during their first meeting in January. The Town Council unanimously approved District C Councilor Vincent Piccirilli to another term as Vice President at the Jan. 9 meeting. On Jan. 8, the School Committee voted to appoint John Portz to another two years as Chairman.
Dear Watertown resident,
I wanted to say a few words to you before the town council meeting tonight. As many of you know I knelt during the Pledge of Allegiance at the inauguration. I did so because I can not say “with liberty and justice for all” while that is not true in our country. People of color throughout our nation do not experience the same rights and privileges as white Americans. From the disproportionate punishment young children experience in schools to the disproportionate arrests, convictions, and sentences adults receive in the criminal justice system, people of color live with discrimination and persecution that people who are white do not experience.
As Watertown prepares to inaugurate the newly elected officials on Jan. 2, 2018, two familiar faces will not be among the Town Councilors sworn in – Susan Falkoff and Aaron Dushku. Their colleagues paid tribute to the two Councilors stepping down this year during the final Council meeting of 2017. Each received a proclamation from the Council along with a framed print of Town Hall. Falkoff served as a Councilor-At-Large for a dozen years.
Recently elected Watertown officials will be sworn in during the Watertown Inauguration on Jan. 2, 1018. The inauguration ceremony will be held at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. A reception will follow. The following elected officials will be sworn that night:
The President of the Town Council and Member of the School Committee – Elect
Mark S. Sideris
The Members – Elect of the Town Council
Caroline J. Bays
Michael F. Dattoli
Anthony J. Donato
Lisa J. Feltner
Angeline B. Kounelis
Anthony Palomba
Vincent J. Piccirilli, Jr.
Kenneth M. Woodland
The Members – Elect of the School Committee
Amy B. Donohue
Lindsay Jean Mosca
John H. Portz
Lily R. Rayman-Read
The Trustees – Elect of the Free Public Library
Leanne Hammonds
Michael J. Hanlon, Jr.
Daniel E. Pritchard
The dust has settled after the Watertown Town Election, and the Town Council will have two new members, and two returning for another term. The victors reflected on the election and looked forward at their upcoming term. Anthony Donato took the most votes on his first run for Town Council. He fared well across town. “I was fortunate to have a lot of support spread throughout town and for that I am grateful,” Donato said.
Anthony Donato won the race for Watertown Town Councilor At-Large by nearly 400 votes, but he did not win every precinct in Tuesday’s Watertown Town Election. See how the candidates for Council and School Committee fared in the precinct-by-precinct results. In the race for the four Town Councilor At-Large seats, Donato got the most votes in seven of 12 precincts – 1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 – while second place Caroline Bays won three precincts – 2, 4, 9. Third place candidate and incumbent Tony Palomba won Precincts 3 and 5. Donato’s best showings were on the west side of town – precincts 10-12 – where he won each by at least 85 votes, and precinct 10 by 134 votes.
Voters elected two newcomers and two incumbents in the race for Watertown Town Councilor At-Large on Tuesday.
First-time candidates Anthony Donato and Caroline Bays got the most votes, followed by incumbents Tony Palomba and Michael Dattoli in the six-way race for the four Councilor At-Large spots. Donato received 3,053 votes, or 23.32 percent of the vote. With 2,657 votes (20.30 percent), Bays got the second most votes, just 13 votes ahead of Palomba, who had 2,644 votes (20.20 percent). Dattoli received 2,337 and finished fourth. He got 17.85 percent of the vote.
Watertown’s Town Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7 and voters will be able to cast their ballots for Town Council, School Committee and Board of Library Trustees.
The 2017 election features numerous contested races, while other candidates have no opposition. Follow Watertown News on Election Night for the results. Town Council
The big race for Town Council is for Councilor At-Large. There are four seats being contested this year but only two incumbents seek re-election after Susan Falkoff and Aaron Dushku announced they would not run this year.