HAVERHILL — Voters went for change yesterday and elected three political newcomers to the City Council.
To make room for the new faces, voters tossed out two incumbents who are winding down their first terms.
The changes mean that a third of the council will be new starting in January.
Michael Young, a social studies teacher at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, repeated his feat from the Sept. 15 preliminary election by forging ahead of several incumbents in yesterday's voting. He placed fourth.
Two so-called "green" candidates who stressed environmental protection, Colin LePage and Sven Amirian, placed sixth and eighth respectively.
Three of the nine incumbents will not keep their two-year council seats. Michael McGonagle was edged out, finishing just 105 votes behind veteran Councilor William Macek, who captured the council's ninth and final seat. Kenneth Quimby came in 11th place. Both McGonagle and Quimby are first-term councilors. City Councilor James Donahue, also a first-termer, did not seek re-election.
Last night at Mayor James Fiorentini's victory party at the downtown Tap Brewhouse restaurant, Young attributed his victory to "the hard work of my supporters." Young, stressing his theme of fiscal responsibility, reiterated his pledge to donate his $8,000 annual council salary to local charities.
He said he will soon name a five-member committee that will recommend how the money will be split up.
"I'm not going to renege on a promise," he said.
Amirian and LePage both said they will push hard to extend single-stream recycling to the entire city. It has already been introduced to the routes where trash is collected on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The single-stream concept allows residents to place all recyclables — bottles, cans, plastics and paper goods — at curbside for collection.
Amirian said the hard work of his volunteers as well as James Corcoran, his campaign manager, and Tim Jordan, campaign treasurer, put him over the top.
As for his wife, Melanie, "She sacrificed a lot to help me achieve this."
LePage said going door-to-door in search of votes made the difference for him.
"People like to meet who they're going to vote for," he said.
Amirian is a "green" real estate developer who works on projects promoting environmental protection. LePage works as an engineering representative.
While last night's results were pleasing to the winners, they were disappointing to McGonagle and Quimby.
McGonagle showed up at City Hall accompanied by his wife, Maureen, his sister Colleen McGonagle, and his son Michael.
At first, as the results started coming in precinct by precinct, McGonagle thought he was going to retain his seat. But as the numbers were tallied, he learned it wasn't going to be his night.
"I probably should have worked harder," said McGonagle, who did better in the Sept. 15 preliminary election, finishing fifth.
If there was any bitterness on his part, there was no trace of it.
"It's going to be a strong council," he said.
"I enjoyed doing things for people," he said of his single term on the council. "I'll still follow the issues."
There were no surprises among the top three council finishers. Michael Hart was the top vote-getter and will most likely continue to serve as council president. Second-place went to Robert Scatamacchia, a veteran councilor. William Ryan, a former state representative, mayor and School Committee member, finished third.
David Hall finished ninth in the preliminary election and some observers of the local political scene wondered if he might be in danger of losing his seat. He ended up in fifth place.
Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien, the lone woman on the council, placed seventh.
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