NORTHAMPTON – Ward 3 City Councilor Ryan O’Donnell announced Monday that he will seek the at-large council seat that was vacated when Jesse Adams resigned last week
Adams announced Friday that he was resigning from the at-large seat that he held since 2009, citing the demands of his work as a lawyer.
O’Donnell said Monday he plans to run for that now-vacant seat. There are no other announced candidates for the seat. The next regular city election is in 2017.
Under the city’s charter, the City Council must schedule a special election within 90 days of the vacancy. City Clerk Wendy Mazza said once that date is set, a preliminary election would be held 28 days in advance if more than two candidates seek the office.
O’Donnell was elected to the Ward 3 seat in 2013. He said he got his start in civic engagement in the neighborhood thorough his earlier work in the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association.
This year he was elected by the council to serve as its vice president and is also chairman of the Transportation and Parking Commission.
Though he said that focusing on the neighborhood level is still important to him, he also has welcomed the chance to work on issues of concern to the city as a whole. He said serving in an at-large capacity would further aid him in drafting legislation of interest to the whole city.
“If you’re at-large you’re really able to work with members of the community across the city,” O’Donnell said. “And to me that’s key for making good policy.”
Among his successes in implementing citywide policy, O’Donnell cited his work on the 2014 overhaul of zoning regulations that added requirements for affordable housing and green space.
“I don’t think the result of that made everybody universally happy, but I feel proud that I was able, through the legislative process, to make the zoning law better than it could have been,” he said.
O’Donnell said another success was an ordinance he drafted which was passed by the council last year that limits the amount of money an individual can donate to a candidate for city office.
O’Donnell said that he plans to continue focusing on both practical and values-based work.
“I think it’s important to represent our principals as well as the day-to-day infrastructure issues and public safety issues,” he said. “I don’t buy into the fact that you have to do one or the other – you can do both, but you have to work hard.”
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.