The Westbrook City Council could be in for a makeover this fall.
Several councilors, including some leaders, have indicated they won’t be running for election in November.
In the last election, in 2007, all seven incumbents were re-elected. Though Ed Symbol resigned shortly after the inauguration in order to fill a vacant seat on the School Committee, the Republican City Committee appointed Lyle Cramer, a former councilor and another familiar face in the city, to replace him.
But in November, some newcomers might have a chance to represent their wards, with up to four seats being vacated by the incumbents.
Council President Brendan Rielly, a Democrat, said he’s going “back and forth at the moment” deciding whether he’ll run in November. Rielly, who represents Ward 1, is serving his fourth term on the council and his second as council president.
As his children get older and their schedules get busier, he said, it’s gotten harder to be a good councilor and a good father.
“It’s a balancing act,” he said.
For Drew Gattine, a Democrat in his third term, it’s work obligations that have led him to his decision.
“Right now, I’m not planning on running,” he said Tuesday.
Gattine, the Ward 2 councilor, serves as chairman of the Committee of the Whole, which consists of all seven city councilors and is where weightier issues are often first discussed before the council votes on them.
Cramer, a Republican, said it’s unlikely he’ll run a contested campaign because Ward 3 is made up of mostly Democrats and he doesn’t believe he could win. Cramer would consider running for the Ward 3 seat, if the race isn’t contested.
He said he wouldn’t be interested in running for an at-large seat on the council either, because he has “a lot of respect” for Mike Foley, a Democrat, and John O’Hara, a Repulican, who currently hold those seats.
Foley, O’Hara and Suzanne Joyce, the Democratic Ward 5 councilor, all said they intend to run in November. Democrat Dotty Aube, who represents Ward 4, did not return calls seeking comment.
If Rielly decides not to run, Foley said, he’d be interested in serving as the council president if he’s re-elected.
“It all depends on whether the rest of the council wants it,” he said.
Foley, 21, is serving his second term on the council. He resigned from his position as a student representative on the School Committee in order to join the council as an 18-year-old high school senior. He currently serves as chairman of the Finance Committee.
Bruce Chuluda, a Republican in his third term as mayor, said he’ll run again.
Rielly said names of possible Democratic mayoral candidates – people who both have and haven’t held office in the city before – have come up, but, he said, he didn’t “want to out them.”
Rielly did give a definitive answer as to one person who wouldn’t be seeking the seat.
“No,” he said. “I’m not running for mayor.”
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