Longtime City Councilor Liacos Says Won't Seek Another Term

Thirty-four years and six weeks is enough. Longtime Peabody city councilor James Liacos told reporters Tuesday he has decided not to run for re-election, thereby leaving an open seat on the council.

Liacos, 61 and a Peabody native, may very likely even be the longest serving public official ever in the Tanner City. He spent 20 straight years (five terms) on the School Committee before winning an At-Large seat on the council 14 years ago.

Liacos said he and City Clerk Tim Spanos looked over the records and it appears that only former Mayor Michael Bonfanti came close to that record, give or take a year, with his tenure as a Library Trustee and Municipal Light Commissioner before spending a decade in the corner office.

"I've been doing it an awful long time," Liacos said, adding that he's always enjoyed the work and continually been "humbled" by the vote of confidence fellow residents have given him by continually returning him to office, but "it's just time."

He retired last year after 38 years of teaching and stepped down as the head of the horticulture department at North Shore Community College -- he spent 25 years at Essex Aggie, 12 at NSCC and also a year at Minuteman in Lexington.

Liacos said he contemplated not running two years ago as well, but decided to run for another term and work alongside a new administration at City Hall. "Ted's off to a great start," he said.

He added that he believes Mayor Bettencourt has made a lot of positive strides in his first term and is setting a good tone in the city.

So while he's always enjoyed serving his fellow residents and doing the work, Liacos said, two-year terms for councilors means they're always running for re-election and he'd like to take more time now to relax, enjoy his retirement and pursue some other things.

That will likely involve more time for tennis and golf, skiing in the winter and time to enjoy a second home up in Maine. Liacos noted his wife, Janis, is a few years younger and still working, and both his sons -- James, 28, and Ryan, 24 -- are currently living at home, so life is still plenty busy.

He noted that his older son is about to embark on a Ph.D program at Carnegie Mellon University and his younger son is an aerospace engineer with General Electric.

Liacos grew up with his siblings over on King Street, where he lived for 40 years of his life before moving over near Brooksby Farm, and his father spent 30 years as a Peabody police officer.

Back in 1977, Liacos said, he decided to run for School Committee and saw it as another way, as an educator, to become involved in the community and guide the school system his children would one day enroll in as well.

But he finished fourth that year in a four-person race for three seats on the board and had to wait another two years to try again. He won in 1979, and then due to the untimely death of a sitting School Committee member, he was actually appointed six weeks early and started serving that November.

Liacos said Regina Falkowski was about to depart the board to work in Congressman Nicholas Mavroules' office when she was killed in a car accident.

After two decades, Liacos then decided he'd like to try and serve on the City Council. In 1999, he ran and saw a narrow victory over former longtime councilor William Toomey, so narrow that a recount was called.

"It was very stressful for both of us," he recalled. The initial margin was about 50 votes and the final tally ended around 30 votes with Liacos still ahead.

As for a final farewell speech, he might mention it at an upcoming council meeting, but don't expect a long and drawn out goodbye.

"I think they've heard enough from me by now," he said, laughing.