Incumbents keep seats on City Council, School Committee

Date: 11/16/2023

WESTFIELD — As Mayor Michael McCabe was cruising to reelection on Nov. 7, a similar trend played out down the ballot, where incumbents kept their seats on the City Council, School Committee, Municipal Light Board and Athenaeum Board of Trustees.

All of the incumbents who chose to run for reelection were successful, and in multi-seat races the current officeholders ran ahead of the newcomers.

The seven at-large councilors elected on Nov. 7 are all current city councilors. The top seven finishers in a 10-way race were incumbent James Adams with 3,775 votes; incumbent Brent Bean II with 3,635, incumbent Richard Sullivan Jr., 3,412; incumbent Dan Allie, 3,223, incumbent Cindy Harris, 3,163; Nicholas Morganelli, who is currently the Ward 1 councilor, 3,071; and incumbent Kristen Mello, who also ran unsuccessfully for mayor, 2,667.

Also running but not winning seats were challengers Jessica Britton, who received 2,403 votes; Robert Parent, 2,258; and Jason Hosey, 1,207.

Britton also finished a runner-up in the race for Ward 2 councilor, where incumbent Ralph Figy was reelected with 335 votes to 256 for Britton. The councilors representing wards 3-6 — Bridget Matthews-Kane, Michael Burns, John Beltrandi III and William Onyski, respectively — were all reelected with no opponent.

The only “new” face on the council when the new two-year term begins in January 2024 will be Karen Fanion, though she was a familiar sight in Council Chambers during her decades as Westfield’s city clerk. Fanion won the Ward 1 councilor race. It was the only race that did not feature an incumbent, because of Morganelli’s decision to run at large rather than defending his Ward 1 seat. Fanion received 869 votes to 406 for John Bowen, a member of the Planning Board.

All councilors serve two-year terms. There were only six at-large councilors running for reelection because Mary O’Connell, who currently sits on the council, chose not to run. She had been a midterm replacement for David Flaherty, who resigned this year.

On the School Committee, incumbents Bo Sullivan and Michael Tirrell were reelected handily, and newcomer Jeffrey Gunther took the third available seat in a squeaker, defeating recently retired school Transportation Director Pamela Kotarski.

Sullivan, the incumbent vice chair, received 3,534 votes, and Tirrell got 3,025. Gunther received 2,303 votes, only 14 more than Kotarski at 2,289.

Voters could vote for up to three candidates, matching the number of four-year terms available. Also running were Jeffery Gosselin, who received 1,829 votes, and Gabriella Michaliszyn with 1,597.

Sullivan, Tirrell and Gunther will serve alongside Kathleen Hillman, Tim O’Connor and Heather Sullivan, who were elected to four-year terms in 2021, as well as the mayor, who serves ex officio as the School Committee’s chair. Gunther will replace current member Diane Mayhew, whose term expires at the end of 2023 and did not run for reelection.

There were no contested races for the Municipal Light Board. Incumbent board members were reelected without opposition in five of the city’s six wards: Kevin Kelleher (Ward 1), Ray Rivera (Ward 2), Dawn Renaudette (Ward 3), Joseph Mitchell (Ward 5) and Robert Sacco (Ward 6). In Ward 4, where Francis Liptak did not run for reelection, William Parks was the only candidate. Light Board members serve two-year terms.

One six-year term as a Westfield Athenaeum trustee was available on the ballot. Incumbent Jayne Mulligan defeated challenger Eric McDowell, 4,115 votes to 1,369. She will keep her seat on the 13-member board, which has a mix of elected and appointed members.

There were 6,180 ballots cast in Westfield’s election, representing 22.2% of registered voters in the city.

This page was edited Nov. 16, 2023, to correct the identity of which School Committee member had chosen not to run for reelection and which ones are in the middle of their four-year terms. The original version of this article incorrectly swapped the names of Kathleen Hillman and Diane Mayhew.