LYNN ― Ward 7 Councilor Jay Walsh has expressed interest in becoming the next City Council president, and he seems to have secured the necessary support from his colleagues.
At least eight councilors confirmed to The Item that they will support Walsh when voting for the council president on Inauguration Day in January. A council meeting will be held immediately after the new mayor and members of the City Council and School Committee are sworn in, according to Walsh.
Walsh would need a simple majority vote — at least six votes from the 11-member council — to become president. The city clerk presides over separate roll-call votes for council president and vice president; this occurs annually on the first Monday in January, according to the city charter.
Now that it appears Walsh has the votes, he is making plans for what his leadership on the City Council will look like.
“I want to be a president who can mediate between the council and the mayor,” said Walsh. He said he would like the council and the mayor to come up with a unified message for the city. We are poised to do some good things together. We just need to build that bridge.”
Walsh has been the Ward 7 councilor for almost six years. He graduated from the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute in 1999 and went on to work for the GE River Works plant. He was a vice president at the IUE-CWA Local 201 union, which represents approximately 1,500 workers, including those at GE Aviation in Lynn and the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. Walsh currently works as a licensed plumber at his family’s business, John’s Oil.
Several councilors noted that Walsh is or would make a good leader.
Councilor at Large Brian Field said that he has known Walsh since they were altar boys at St. Michael’s Church. Walsh beat Field in the Ward 7 councilor race with a two-to-one ratio in 2015, but Field is not harboring any hard feelings.
“He is a blue-collar guy that respects people and works at it every day for the people of Ward 7 and the entire city,” Field said. “He respects his colleagues and he is one of my favorite people to work (with) on the council.”
Councilor at Large Buzzy Barton said that Walsh would make a good council president because he is young and energetic, has had union experience and has been a ward councilor for long enough to know how to set the agenda.
“I think he is like-minded,” said Councilor at Large Brian LaPierre, mentioning affordable housing, job creation, and a living wage for Lynn’s residents as their common priorities.
LaPierre said that he expects Barton to remain vice president of the council since the latter won “resoundingly” among the other councilor-at-large candidates in the Nov. 2 election.
“It makes sense to me to have a ward councilor be the president and a councilor at large to be the vice president. It sort of evens the field throughout the city. And we want to have a strong working relationship with the mayor-elect (Jared) Nicholson,” said LaPierre.
Ward 4 Councilor Richard Colucci, Ward 5 Councilor Dianna Chakoutis and Ward 6 Councilor Fred Hogan also confirmed that they will support Walsh’s candidacy. Ward 2 Councilor Richard Starbard said that he will most likely vote for Walsh.
Seven out of 10 councilors expressed their support for Barton as a vice president.
