After two incumbents lost last week and another member resigned over the summer, the Schenectady City Council is set to undergo significant changes.
The council will welcome two new members in January.
Three seats were up for grabs in this year’s elections, with five candidates seeking those spots. Incumbents Councilman Damonni Farley and Council President Marion Porterfield — who ran on the Working Families Party line after failing to get endorsements from the Schenectady Democratic Committee — lost their bids. The winning candidates were those with Democratic backing: 12-year council veteran John Mootooveren, City Planning Commission Vice Chair Hayden Engert and political newcomer Kim Wiggins.
Engert said he is excited to begin.
“I’m very optimistic. I’m also very appreciative. You know, the people of Schenectady put a lot of faith in me, and I look forward to living up to that role of being a councilmember in January,” Engert said.
At 21, Engert will be the youngest person ever to serve on the council.
He said he ran because he wanted to be a young voice on the board.
“I think that we have this new generation. We are entering the workforce, we are entering life to say the least, we are starting to come up,” Engert said.
Despite being made up entirely of Democrats, the council has developed a reputation for division in recent years. One notable split came over the council’s vote on Good Cause Eviction.
That vote ended in a 4-3 decision not to opt into the state law, which would have required landlords to have good reason to evict tenants and placed limits on rent increases.
Engert said he hopes to help move the council in a more collaborative direction.
“I think we need more collaboration from members on the council to try and work for better solutions for the people of Schenectady,” he said.
Engert will be joined by Wiggins as the two new faces on the council in January.
But the council could soon see another new member as officials work to fill the seat vacated by Joseph Mancini, who resigned in August.
The council is collecting résumés and will soon begin interviews to select a candidate to fill the seat.
Porterfield, who will leave her post in January, said the interview process could begin within the next couple of weeks.
“We have received numerous — the number is 17, to be exact — résumés from people who are interested, so we as a council have to decide who is going to fill that seat,” Porterfield said.
She said the process has not yet begun because one council member is out of the country.
“We have a councilmember who is out of the country, and we want to give her the opportunity to be there,” Porterfield said.
Schenectady City GOP Chair Tom Kennedy said the Republican Party has three candidates who have submitted résumés for the vacant seat.
“Knowing how politics are in the city of Schenectady, I doubt very much that they are going to be given much credence. But they are going to come in, they are going to interview, and we are hoping for the best,” Kennedy said.
Whoever the council selects will serve in an interim capacity. A special election will be held next November to fill the seat.
Kennedy said the party put forward candidates to be part of the process but does not want the seat filled in any other way.
