by David Taber

As of Jan. 29 two candidates have taken out nomination papers to run in the special election for alderman-at-large.

“We are going to have a race,” said Nicholas A. Salerno, chairman of the Board of Election Commissioners.

The first day candidates could take out papers was Friday, but former Provost campaign field coordinator Marty Martinez and former Ward 6 Alderman John M. Connolly, who had previously declared their intentions to run, are the only two to have begun the process of getting their names on the ballot so far, he said. 

The board of aldermen set the date for the special election Thursday, ratifying a recommendation made by the board’s legislative matters subcommittee on Tuesday. Salerno presented the sub-committee with three timeline options.

A fast-track option would have citizens casting their votes May 10 and a drawn-out version would set the general election date for June 26, he said. The third option held the preliminary election April 10 and the general election May 22, he said.

“I’m just glad that it’s been chosen,” said Nicholas A. Salerno, chairman of the Board of Election Commisioners.

Alderman William M. Roche said the general election should be moved back a week to avoid potential overlap between the special election and the begin-ning of the 2007 general election season.

“I would prefer not to have election papers come out before the final is done,” Roche said.

Alderman Rebekah L. Gewirtz cast the sole dissenting vote on the subcommittee vote, and she voiced these concerns again at the Thursday board of aldermen meeting. Because the board took so long to set the date for the election, they should now prioritize filling the at-large seat as quickly as possible, she said.

“I think that the people of the city of Somerville deserve to have an alderman-at-large as soon as possible,” she said.

Alderman Roche said he did not think haste was a priority. “No one has called me saying they feel unrepresented,” he said.

‚ÄúThe people running at-large are going to need all the time that they can get,‚Äù he said. 

The board of aldermen approved the timeline when they voted to accept the com-mittee report from Legislative Matters, Board President Robert C. Trane said.

Alderman William A. White told The Somerville News he plans to propose that the board create a process to insure that, in the future, special elections are held no later than a month after an elected official resigns.

The process would instruct the city clerk to send the election commission a letter asking them to propose a timeline within two weeks, he said.

It would then give the board two weeks to set the election date, he said.

White said he thought the interruption of the holiday season had slowed the process of setting the election date this time around, and that Ward 3 Alderman Thomas F. Taylor may have been reluctant to pursue the matter because he did not know if he was going to be chairing the Legislative Matters Committee in the new year. 

Salerno said the primary election, which will be held if there are more than two candidates, and the general election will cost the city $60,000-a-piece. 

He secured a special appropriation from the board in November, to the tune of $119,000-and-change, for the elections, he said.

He said he was not too concerned about having a week shaved off of the timeline and he was relieved the election date was finally set. “It’s going to be tight, we want to make sure that everyone has time to turn their absentee ballots around.”