At our first City Council meeting last week, we declared two
vacancies, one on the Planning Board and one on the City Council for the
District 2 seat. Because vacancies on
the Council don’t come along too often, I thought I’d post a bit about this
one, to provide some context.
Leading up to the most recent election, sitting District 2
Councilor Christian Scorzoni was running unopposed for re-election. He and his family had been considering an
in-town move and, as fate would have it, their house sold after Labor Day. Between the City Charter and the laws of the
Commonwealth, there are strict rules governing the nomination of candidates for
public office and the finalizing and publishing of official ballots. Once knowing that he was going to be moving
out of District 2, Mr. Scorzoni found himself on the official ballot and unable
to remove himself. And it was far too
late for anyone else to get on the ballot, as well. And according to the City Charter, a City
Councilor representing a district must be a resident of that district at the
time of election and at least for the first 12 months of office, in order to
continue to represent the district (and must always remain a resident of
Amesbury).
Once Councilor Scorzoni announced his move, two residents in
District 2 decided to mount ‘write-in’ campaigns, Mary Louise Bartley and
former District 2 Councilor Mary Chatigny.
The Newburyport Daily News published several articles on the matter,
including profiles of each of the write-in candidates. Other social media means were used to
publicize both candidates.
Nonetheless, on Election Day, Mr. Scorzoni handily
out-polled both Ms. Bartley and Ms. Chatigny.
The
initial
results were:
Christian
Scorzoni
|
271
|
39%
|
Blanks
|
149
|
22%
|
Mary
Louise Bartley
|
140
|
20%
|
Mary
Chatigny
|
125
|
18%
|
When the City Clerk held a recount for the Mayoral vote, Ms.
Bartley requested a recount of the District 2 vote as well, and presented a
vote challenger on the day of the recount to review ballots on her behalf.
She and Mr. Scorzoni lost votes and Ms.
Chatigny gained votes.
The
final
District 2 results were:
Christian
Scorzoni
|
269
|
39%
|
Blanks
|
146
|
21%
|
Mary
Louise Bartley
|
138
|
20%
|
Mary
Chatigny
|
133
|
19%
|
Like any good foundation document, the City Charter has
provisions for unexpected vacancies on the City Council, and this includes the
possibility that a runner-up in the most recent election can take the vacant
seat automatically, if they have received enough of the votes cast in the
district, in this case, thirty
percent. Here is what the Charter
says, in Section 3-4, Filling of Vacancies [emphasis mine]:
If
a vacancy occurs in the office of city councillor, whether by failure to elect
or otherwise, the vacancy shall be filled by the unelected candidate receiving
the highest votes in the same election, if any, provided that candidate received at least thirty percent of the vote
for that office. Said candidate shall be notified by the city clerk of the
vacancy, and if the candidate declines to be sworn to office within ten days,
has moved from the city, or is otherwise unable to serve, the council shall
choose a successor to fill the vacancy from among the voters entitled to vote
for such office. Any person so chosen shall take the oath of office and
commence to serve forthwith. No vacancy shall be filled, in the manner herein
provided, if a regular city election is to be held within 120 days following
the date the vacancy is declared to exist. The city council shall be the sole judge
of whether a vacancy shall exist in the office of city councillor and may
declare an office vacant by a majority vote of the council.
This 30% threshold is a change from the original City of
Amesbury Charter, from 1996. The
original Charter had all of the same language, including a runner-up threshold
for automatically being seated, but the threshold was only set at 25% of the total vote. This change was approved by Amesbury votes in
2011 along with a number of other changes to the Charter. I’ve been hearing some real mis-information regarding this rule and this Charter change recently, so let me
clarify how it came about.
I was appointed to the Charter Review Committee in
2007 and got to serve on it with some great folks (including Charles Labella, Roger Deschenes, Christopher Yorke and others). The Review Committee was tasked
for looking at the Charter 10 years into its life, evaluate how well it was
working and propose any changes. Section
3-4 was discussed at length in our review.
Amesbury had just gone through the tumultuous exercise of filling a vacancy
in District 5, when Hank Bennick resigned mid-term. About a half-dozen folks applied and Tom
Iaccobucci was appointed to serve out the term.
So we had a living example of how the process worked to look at.
We felt that looking to a runner-up in the most recent
election was perfectly legitimate, as a means to fill a vacancy. But we also felt that 25% was a rather low
threshold. This means that, in theory,
someone could lose an election by 50% (75% to 25%) and still get an automatic
buy into a seat. Raising the limit to
30% still struck us as rather low but you have to start somewhere; raise it too close to 50% and no-one would ever make it. This recommendation was picked up by the
Mayor, vetted by the Council, approved by the voters and, ultimately, ratified
by the State Legislature and Attorney General, in their acceptance of our Home
Rule Charter.
Where does that leave us?
Neither write-in candidate came close to crossing the 30% threshold. The
plurality of the voters in District 2 chose Mr. Scorzoni, who
was not even eligible. More ballots were
blank than were cast for either of the write-in candidates (taken separately). The election delivered no results that could
be used to seat a District 2 Councilor. The
Charter is clear on what comes next. The
task of appointing the District 2 Councilor falls to the 8 sitting City
Councilors, once we declared the seat 'vacant'.
Interested District 2 residents need only submit an application
to the City Clerk by February 5 at 12:00 p.m., to be considered at the February
11 Council Meeting. As of this writing,
at least one District 2 resident has submitted an application to the City Clerk,
Mary Louise Bartley.
For myself, I will
be looking for the same qualifications that I looked for when I voted for At-Large
Councilors last fall: history of public service, knowledge of municipal and financial
affairs, commitments to the continued investment in Amesbury’s infrastructure
and public school system, and support for economic growth (the DPW re-location
and Lower Millyard re-development in particular). I hope to see a number of folks come forward
and I look forward to interviewing candidates on the 11th and identifying one that I can support with my vote.
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