Surprise Shakeup At The Newton City Council

NEWTON, MA — Before the new city council takes over in the council chambers next month they had to get one thing decided: Who will lead them into the next two years now that the current president Scott Lennon is on his way out? That question was decided Thursday: Ward 7 councilor Mark Laredo, as Greg Reibman over at Village14 reported first.

"It ended up being a vote by acclimation," said Laredo, referring to a form of unanimous consent after his opponent stepped down following her nomination. "Susan was, as always, very gracious. And then we had a very spirited contest for vice president," he told Patch.

As a matter of fact, the surprise of the evening arrived when it came time to vote for his partner.

"It was a very close vote, you have two experienced capable candidates, and the council was clearly split," he said.

Rick Lipof and Vicki Danberg had been making the cases to their fellow councilors about taking on the seat for weeks, but when it came time to vote it was a deadlock. According to Newton City Council Caucus rules, that meant both had to step aside after they remained deadlocked after three votes and other councilors were nominated.

Councilors Barbara Brousal-Glaser, Alison Leary and David Kalis were nominated. Kalis ended up with the final vote and the seat.

"It wasn't expected," Kalis told Patch Friday. He said he'd thought about the position as he watched Cheryl Lappin and Scott Lennon, but in a theoretical way. And he figured, with his leadership role in the corporate world and in the community it was something he'd be interested in doing one day. But his heart did skip a beat when he was nominated, he said.

"It's hard to know when the right time is, but when it stares at you in the face you know when to take it," he said. "A lot of the priorities we have on the council such as integrating new councilors and making sure we have good communication, these are issues I know both mark and I are going to focus on and we'll do it well."

Laredo, for his part said he, too, was looking forward to working with Kalis.

"I told the council I would work with anyone, but I think David Kalis will do a great job. He's very capable and we'll be a great team," said Laredo.

And although all told eight councilors (five women and three men) had their names in the running for a high seat two men were ultimately elected.

The new president and vice president will now not only lead the meetings he is in charge of appointing the chairs, vice chairs and members of the council’s committees. The two will hash out their exact roles with each other and meet with the mayor-elect to figure out how best to work with her, said Kalis.

Laredo said in the next week he'll be reaching out to talk with each of the city councilors to figure out what roles they want and then assign them to committees. He estimated they'd do that in in the next five or six days.

"You have to account for interests, and you try to have strengths in the right area," he said. "It's very important to have as much diversity as possible, in lots of different ways. My rule is: I'm going to put the best possible person in the job."

So far, he said, the council has been gracious in the news of the new leaders.

"There will be times when we disagree. But, and I'm repeating myself here, I think it's extremely important that we have respectful dialogue in this city; not only in the council but among citizens and between citizens and public officials," he said.

PREVIOUSLY on Patch

Newton City Council To Elect New President

Read more on the Village 14 Blog:

Marc Laredo Elected Newton City Council President

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch