Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/tag/town-council/)
Councilor at Large Anthony Donato stepped down after four years. His final meeting was Dec. 14. In a relatively short time on the Council, Anthony Donato left his mark and was remembered by his colleagues as a sharp, detail oriented and, most of all, kind Councilor. After four years — two terms — Donato chose not to run for re-election as Councilor at Large.
Retiring District A Councilor Angie Kounelis, right, with her mother Evangelia. After 16 years, Angeline Kounelis — Angie to most — represented District A for the final time as a Councilor on Dec. 14. She not only represented East Watertown, to many she spoke for them and was a trusted advocate for their needs. In the wake of her final Council meeting, Kounelis said she has been flooded with notes of thanks, congratulations and appreciation.
Watertown City HallCharlie Breitrose
The City Council backed the hiring a firm to help conduct the search for the next City Manager on Tuesday night and Council President Mark Sideris said he received good reviews from other communities that have used the firm. The Council unanimously voted to hire Community Paradigm Associates LLC, the only firm to apply. Councilors also approved the $14,000 bid for the work which includes getting input from the community, Watertown official elected and staff, recruiting candidates, assisting with candidate screening, hosting a community forum, and helping the Council to conduct interviews of finalists. After speaking to references and others familiar with the Community Paradigm Associates , Sideris said he believes they will do a good job in Watertown. “What this firm did is know what communities are looking for and find the candidates that are the best fit,” Sideris said.
(This letter was written before election day but was submitted after thr deadline for election letters.)
Letter to the Editor,
I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to the hundreds of residents of East Watertown for their kindness, opinions, suggestions and overall great Watertown spirit that they shared with me during the past six months.
I enjoyed every day of this effort as you give me the encouragement to keep knocking on doors meeting the next voter. It’s been an honor to serve 16 years as a Member of the Library Board of Trustees and will be a greater honor to serve you and Watertown as a Member of the Town Council representing East Watertown.
I wanted to say thank you to the voters of East Watertown, thank you to the many people who have provided support for this campaign and a special thanks to my lovely wife, Joyce for her support of my civic duty to our wonderful community, Watertown.
Mike HanlonDistrict A Council Candidate
Town of WatertownA map of Watertown’s Districts: Peach is A, Red is B, Lime Green is C, Green is D.
The results of the Watertown Election are in, and the winners have been announced, but if the election had followed certain precincts the results would have looked different. The Town Clerk’s office released the precinct-by-precinct counts from the Nov. 2, 2021, election. The turnout was bigger than recent Town Elections, with 24 percent of the 25,693 registered Watertown voters casting ballots, according to the Town Clerk’s office. In 2019, the turnout was 17.24 percent.
Charlie Breitrose
Incumbents fared well in the race for Town Council Tuesday night with three winning re-election as Councilors At-Large Race, and the one facing a candidate for District Councilor coming out on top. The two incumbents running for the School Committee will also return for another term. The results came out of the Town Clerk’s Office at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. The vote is not official until all the absentee and overseas votes are counted, which could take a week or longer. Incumbents Tony Palomba received the most votes for Councilors At-Large with 3,251.
Tuesday is election day in Watertown, and Town voters will be selecting candidates for three Town boards, as well as voting on changes to the Town Charter. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (see polling locations below). Town Council, School Committee & Library Trustee Races
The 2021 election has 25 candidates running, with several contested races. Only two are uncontested — Town Council President and District C Town Councilor. Seven people are running for four Councilor At-Large spots.
I have serious concerns about how Councilor Feltner has used her position of power as the chair of the Committee on Public Safety and it is one of the strong reasons I will not be voting for her for District B Councilor. I will be voting for Tiffany York for District B Councilor, and urge fellow neighbors in District B to join me because this is a critical time to have Councilors with competency in what justice, equity, diversity and inclusion means and how to actually create it on the next Town Council. As a light-skinned person of mixed African and European heritage who presents as white to most people, I benefit from an enormous amount of skin privilege and see it as my responsibility to speak up as I am able to when I see and experience racism, and to work to make our community safer for all residents. And it is hard. While I don’t experience most skin discrimination, I have ancestrally inherited fears of targeting and reprisals when being brave enough to speak up.