Brewer voters on Tuesday elected one incumbent and a former member of the board to the city council.
Kevin O’Connell was elected to a one-year term, filling a vacancy created after Deputy Mayor Bill Kimball resigned in July. Incumbent Dani O’Halloran was re-elected to a three-year seat.
O’Connell received 2,502 votes, while O’Halloran received 2,650 votes, according to results provided by City Clerk Vincent Migliore Tuesday night.
O’Halloran received the most votes of any council candidate, beating out Jarod Farn-Guillette and Marissa Worster, who received 527 and 928 votes, respectively, in a three-way contest for a 3-year term. O’Connell beat out Kathleen Kramer, who received 1,441 votes, in the race for a one-year term.
The Brewer City Council will now have five members after months with an open seat. The four-member council recently passed a ban on syringe services in the city.
O’Connell, who previously served as a Brewer Councilor and member of the Maine Legislature, said he ran for the one-year term because he thought he could return to the council to help with upcoming issues.
When asked about how he would navigate decisions brought to the council, O’Connell said he would have conversations with city staff and residents to know what was best for the city.
“I’ve said this before when I was on City Council; I want everybody that works for the city to be able to talk to me and not worry about repercussions. I want to be an open door,” he said in October.
O’Halloran, who also ran for re-election as a state representative, will now have a second term on the council, which she said she wanted to use to support the police department and create a larger tax base for the city.
She also won reelection to her seat in the Maine Legislature, defeating challenger Pat Jude with 2,384 votes to his 1,879 in that race.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Jarod Farn-Guillette’s first name.