The North End / Waterfront Neighborhood Council (NEWNC) has announced a revised plan for their annual election due to COVID-19. Interested individuals must announce their candidacy to the Council by Monday, May 4 at 11:59 p.m. The election has been delayed to a tentative date of September 19, 2020.
If you have previously pulled your nomination papers or have not and are interested in running for a seat on NEWNC, you must e-mail NEWNC (newncboston@gmail.com) no later than Monday May 4, 2020 at 11:59 PM announcing your candidacy. Due to the current emergency situation, NEWNC will be temporarily waiving the 40 signature requirement.
If six or less candidates email NEWNC to announce their intent to run by the deadline, there will be no election and all candidates will be elevated without the need for an election.
If more than six candidates are announced, NEWNC will delay election until the tentative date of September 19, 2020 (weekend after Labor Day). The 40 signature requirement will resume and will be due two Mondays prior to the election on September 7, 2020. Due to that date falling on Labor Day, NEWNC will honor the deadline of Tuesday, September 8, 2020.
As always, there are six seats available for election. There are four current members at the end of their two-year terms and up for re-election (Brett Roman, John Pregmon, Marie Simboli and Jody Faller). The six candidates with the most amount of votes will be elected to a two-year term and join the current six members with one year remaining in their terms (Tina Natale, Tania Green, Ashley Leo, Damien DiPaola, Michael Salvati, and Carmine Guarino).
If the election is to be held in September 2020, the current Council members whose terms are set to expire after May 2020 (Roman, Pregmon, Simboli, Faller) will be allowed to remain on Council to make up for time lost in which they would have served (April & May 2020). Extending these terms will help NEWNC operate through August 2020 by allowing these members full participation at NEWNC’s June & July 2020 meetings, with the August 2020 meeting not being held per the usual schedule.
Since these four members will not be able to participate in the September 2020 meeting, they will be allowed to participate in an advisory capacity to the remaining six members (Natale, Green, Leo, DiPaola, Salvati, and Guarino) without the ability to vote. The remaining six members will be allowed to vote accordingly on any voting items (six members being a quorum).
If an election is held in September, the newly elected officials will be held to the standard election cycle beginning in June and ending in May of the following year. This will mean that if an election is had, the elected NEWNC members will serve through May 2022.
If no September 2020 election can be held due to ongoing stay at home orders, alternative operational & election solutions will be discussed and implemented.
NEWNC advises the City of Boston on issues affecting the quality of life in the North End / Waterfront area including, but not limited to, land use, development, clean streets, parking, public safety, residential & commercial expansion, and food & beverage licenses.
If you have any questions or need additional information please contact us via email at newncboston@gmail.com, Twitter @newncboston, or Facebook at www.facebook.com/newncboston.