Newton City Council To Elect New President

NEWTON, MA —Scott Lennon has served as president of the city council for the past seven years and many of those years no one has expressed interest in taking that job from him. Until now. When Lennon made his mayoral bid, he stepped down from the council and now several city councilors have expressed interest in taking over. It's been a while since there was a race for the position.

"Scott Lennon has pretty much run unopposed in recent years," said Newton City Clerk David Olson. "The last race was maybe eight years ago, when he faced off against Lisle Baker."

The City Council, Newton's legislative branch of municipal government, is made up of 24 members - 16 at-large Councilors and eight Ward Councilors. Councilors are elected every two years.

With the November election over, the newly elected council will hold a caucus complete with speeches and what amounts to a straw vote for a new president and vice president Thursday, Dec. 14. ( See the docket here). The two people the new council chooses will become confirmed on Jan. 1.

"It's important in that whoever is ultimately selected gets to make the decisions about who will become chair and vice chair of all the committees," said Olson.

Susan Albright, Cheryl Lappin and Marc Laredo have expressed interest in being president to their fellow councilors, but Lappin who jumped in a bit on the late side after helping Scott Lennon with his mayoral race has decided to step aside. So now there are two with their hats in the ring for president and two who have expressed interest in running for vice president: Vicki Danberg and Rick Lipof.

Albright who has been active in the city, on the city council since 2004 and active before that on the School Committee said she sees the role as one about priorities.

"[I want] to make sure that the council functions in a way that makes our voice heard and makes our priorities felt in the city of Newton," she told Patch over the phone recently. "I have some skills to lend to this city for a couple of years to help us do our work better," she said.

Mark Loredo has also been involved in Newton politics for a while and served on the school committee (including as chairman there).

"I think I'm ready for the job," he said. As with Albright he said there was no specific event that made him decide to run this year.

"I like to think I'm well equipped for the job. I think I offer many things including an ability to speak and present well and represent the council well. I like to think I run meetings well and I'm an organized person," he said adding that he considered outgoing president Lennon and outgoing vice president Lappin role models to follow.

Lappin confirmed that yes, she had originally put her hat in the ring for the presidency spot, but after taking on increased responsibility in her professional life, she said she realized either work or city council would get shorted if she were to take on the role of president.

"I'm the type of person who does the job completely if i'm going to do it. ... I didn't want to short change my professional life or the council," she said adding that whoever became the next president she'd work to help them get up to speed.

"I'm feeling really good about my decision," she said noting she spends some 20 hours a week on City Council work in addition to her day job.

On to vice president

Her brother, Rick Lipof, meanwhile, says he's ready to take on the role of vice president, pointing to his background - he was first elected to the city council when he was 30, two decades ago, he was on the council (then the Board of Aldermen) for 12 years and then off for six years while he worked on Setti Warren's campaign among other things and has since been back on for the past four years.

"So I definitely see the value of term limits," he told Patch recently, noting what he said was valuable perspective from his time away from the chamber. Though he didn't step away from Newton politics. "Now I've got all this experience, I've worked closely with a mayor, I'd like to be a cog between the board and the executive branch," he said.

Lipof said his philosophy for leading as vice president is similar to that of a medical doctor: "Do no harm. You have to become a little less opinionated and be a facilitator to help the board run smoothly. If we do our job right here, making sure everyone has what they need we're almost not noticed and it's all for the betterment of the city."

Actually, Lipof had been eyeing the president seat, but when his sister expressed a desire to run he backed off. "I don't think it's a good thing to have a brother running against a sister," he said. He gave her his support and by the time she had decided she wasn't going to stand for the position the election was days away. "It would be wrong for me at this time so late in the game to throw a wrench in the process, three days before the election," he said.

On Thursday night the newly elected city councilors will hold two votes. First they'll elect a president and then they'll take another vote for vice president. Simple enough, but it's been known to be an exciting night in the past.

Olson said he expected with just two candidates (at this point) running speeches should be done in about and hour. The person who gets elected or chosen at the caucus has to have at least 13 votes to be declared the winner. If there are two candidates and they're equal it may take another vote. But with just two candidates it shouldn't, he said.

Vicki Danberg who has been a councilor since 2004 is running against Lipof, he said. She did not pick up the phone when Patch called and did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch