Newly-elected Marlborough city councilor resigns seat

City Councilor Maura Navin Webster (far right) has resigned her seat less that two weeks after being elected.
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)

MARLBOROUGH

Less than two weeks after being re-elected in an uncontested race, Marlborough City Councilor Maura Navin Webster has resigned her seat to take a job with the American Heart Association in Framingham.

Webster said she is excited about her new post as senior director of communications for the Worcester market but that she has mixed feelings about leaving politics. Both her father and grandfather served as state representatives.

"Public service is what my family does," she said in a telephone interview today. "That's how I was raised. I know nothing else."

The American Heart Association, which has a strong public and government lobbying program, requires that employees like Webster leave elected office as a qualification for employment. Webster, who has been a councilor for four years, said she got the job offer on election night.

The City Council will now have to call a special election to fill her Ward 5 seat. Webster said she said she hopes it can be held in conjunction with the presidential primary early next year to save money for the city. Her resignation takes effect Jan. 6.

-- Lisa Kocian