EASTHAMPTON — One newcomer was elected to serve as one of four at-large members of the City Council, along with three incumbents who retained their seats during Tuesday night’s elections.
Incumbents Margaret “Peg” Conniff, Joseph McCoy and Daniel Carey will all serve another two-year term, and Owen Zaret will join them for his first term.
City Councilor Tamara Smith did not run for re-election.
During the campaign, candidates supported plans to construct a pre-K through grade 8 school and land conservation.
The three incumbents tallied the most votes on the night, with Carey getting 2,902 (18 percent of the total), McCoy with 2,821 (18 percent) and Conniff with 2,728 (17 percent).
Newcomer Zaret, a physician assistant at Holyoke Medical Center, won the final spot with 2,312 votes (15 percent of total), narrowly beating runner-up Cinzia Pica-Smith by 69 votes.
Carey, 32, was first elected in 2013 to serve on the School Committee for two years, and was elected to serve on the City Council in 2015.
McCoy, a veterinarian and co-owner of Sage Meadow Farm, was elected for his seventh term on the City Council.
Conniff, 58, director of automation solutions at UnitedHealthcare in Hartford, Connecticut, was first elected to the City Council in 2015.
Zaret and two of his new colleagues were at the Abandoned Building Brewery at 142 Pleasant St. around 9 p.m. Tuesday, celebrating their victories, talking about their campaigns and conversing with voters.
Zaret thinks he ran a campaign that effectively utilized social media, and said that “it’s promising” that he was elected as an “honest political novice.”
“I ran a visible campaign, and a promising campaign; I ran a very strong social media campaign,” Zaret said. “With me, what you see is what you get. I’m very outgoing.”
Zaret said that he hopes to be an approachable council member, and also hopes that he will help unify the citizens of Easthampton, whom he realizes have differing points of views on many topics.
“We’re all in this together,” Zaret said.
Now that he’s won, Zaret will take his family to Disney World, but then it’s straight to work.
He wants to move the city forward on the proposal for a new school complex, while at the same time “keeping Easthampton the same independent community that it was for this election.”
Zaret also wants to make sure that Attorney General Maura Healey’s plan to keep bias out of disciplinary cases at Easthampton High School is fully implemented.
Conniff, also at the brewery Tuesday, attributes her win to pragmatism, and, in part, to name recognition.
“A certain portion of it is that I am incumbent, but I am a straight shooter. I don’t mince words. I think people appreciate that,” Conniff said.
Conniff said she is most excited to work with those who will bring a new perspective to municipal government, like Zaret, whom Conniff knows personally.
Carey, also speaking at the brewery, said that all seven candidates who ran were “great.” In addition to Pica-Smith, who received 2,243 votes, the other candidates who came up short were William Lynch IV with 1,657 and Jared Hinkle with 1,139.
Carey, like Conniff, is excited to work with his new colleague, Zaret.
“He ran a very enthusiastic campaign,” Carey said.
Carey hoped he would win, but never thought it was guaranteed. He said his win is mostly due to help from other people.
“It’s folks helping me out, personal contacts. It’s going door-to-door,” Carey said of his campaign’s success.
“I like to think folks recognize the hard work I’ve done over two years,” Carey said.
For Carey, even though it’s a new term, he won’t be approaching municipal governance differently than he has been, and said he goes to work everyday with the same attitude, whether or not it’s an election season.
“If you don’t have vigor everyday, you’re not in the right job,” Carey said.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.