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Anderson resigns Council seat

E-mail|Link|Comments () Posted June 23, 2009 04:52 PM

Paul J. Anderson

Malden City Councilor Paul J. Anderson's resignation was announced at Tuesday night's council meeting.

Anderson was appointed as an at-large member of the council in December. Anderson said in a brief statement that he was resigning for personal reasons.

He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Anderson was chairman of the council's Housing Affairs Committee and vice chairman of the Public Safety Committee. He also served on the Finance/Claims, Public Property, Efficiency, and License committees.

The City Council on Dec. 16 voted to appoint Anderson, a retired firefighter and former School Committee member, to fill the seat vacated by Michael Sheehan, who had resigned.

Anderson, who ran a write-in campaign in 2007, captured the highest number of votes among the defeated candidates for at-large councilor in the last election. His term would have continued until January 2010.

The City Council has 15 days to appoint Anderson's replacement, which by City Charter would be attorney John Matheson, the candidate who finished just behind Anderson in the original election for the at-large seat, collecting 23 write-in votes to Anderson's 99. Matheson has already announced his candidacy for the Ward 3 Council seat on the ballot in November.

The council did not vote on the appointment on Tuesday, but Matheson said several councilors shook hands with him afterward and offered congratulatory remarks, including Councilor Paul Condon.

"I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Matheson said, adding that he expected the council to vote on the appointment next Tuesday.

Condon declined comment on the resignation but said Anderson performed well on the Efficiency Committee, a special committee formed to analyze the fiscal 2010 budget.

"He worked hard on it," Condon said.

Mayor Richard Howard was caught by surprise, like many city officials on Tuesday.

"It came as a little bit of a shock," Howard said. "Especially because he's contributed in so many ways."

Matheson said he saw no reason why the council wouldn't make the appointment, the vote tally notwithstanding. He noted that he received over 400 votes for the Ward 3 seat in the same election in 2007.

"If they were willing to appoint Anderson, I don't see why they would disqualify me," Matheson said. "I'm a lifelong Maldonian and I love my city."