Prattville City Councillor Bob Bishop said this week he will not seek re-election to a second term, leaving an open district seat for candidates to vie for.
“I’ve decided I’m not going to be running this time around,” he said. “We’ll see what transpires in the future, but I think I’ve had enough this time.”
Bishop was elected in 2017 to represent Prattville in District 1 after former Councillor Paul Murphy stepped away to spend more time with his growing young family. Bishop was the former City Clerk in Chelsea, and was an alderman back in the old form of government. He was a staunch fiscal conservative on the Council and a voice of restraint in a time when the City has spent a lot of money on improvements and programming.
He will continue to serve out his term, which ends in early January 2020.
Bishop did pull Nomination papers in May, but elected not to turn them in.
According to City records, that leaves only Todd Taylor right now on the list of candidates who have pulled papers.
Taylor narrowly lost to Bishop in the 2017 election, and has served on the Planning Board. He pulled papers for the seat on July 11.
Candidates have until Aug. 4 to turn in signatures on their Nomination Papers.
•In other Council election news, the at-large race has shown some real interest so far with all three incumbents pulling papers and three newcomers seeming looking to challenge.
Incumbents Damali Vidot (Council President), Roy Avellaneda and Leo Robinson have pulled their papers, and perhaps joining them on the ballot are Mark Rossi (who is currently the License Board Chair and lives on Clark Avenue), Karen Santos (Cook Street), and Christopher Winam (Congress Avenue).
In District 2, incumbent Luis Tejada has taken out his papers for a re-election run, and he is being challenged by Olivia Anne Walsh of the Soldiers’ Home and Melinda Vega Maldonado, of Clark Avenue.
In District 4, incumbent Enio Lopez could have a challenger in Nelson Molina, of Marlborough Street, who pulled his papers early on May 1.
District 5 Councillor Judith Garcia is set to run again for her seat, but she already has some competition in Jason Bonetti of Beacon Street.
In District 6, Councillor Giovanni Recupero has filed for re-election, but he has a possible challenger in Christopher Assante of Hawthorne Street.
Councillors Joe Perlatonda (District 3), Yamir Rodriguez (District 7) and Calvin Brown (District 8) have filed for re-election and have no challengers as of yet.
•The School Committee at-large race features incumbent Frank DePatto facing former member Sean O’Regan and newcomer Roberto Andres Jimenez-Rivera.
In District 1, incumbent Rosemarie Carlisle is facing two challengers, James O’Regan and Bruce Harrison.
In District 4, incumbent Lucia Henriquez has an opponent in Sabrina Marie Wadhams of Gerrish Avenue.
District 7 School Committeewoman Kelly Garcia has a potential challenger in former member Charles Klauder – who was on the Committee for a few terms awhile back.
In the other districts, the incumbents have pulled papers, but have not challenger as of yet.