New London council, school board elect leaders
New London — The new City Council on Monday unanimously re-elected longtime councilor Efrain Dominguez as its president.
Dominguez, a New London teacher who is in his fifth term in office and served the last two years as council president, is the first council member in recent history to be elected to back-to-back terms as president.
“You’ve done a great job bringing everybody together,” councilor John Satti said after nominating Dominguez.
In an emotional speech in English and Spanish, Dominguez called on the council to be “focused and united,” and conduct its business “with integrity, compassion and kindness.”
“Our city will continue to rise and become a model city for the state of Connecticut,” he said.
Reona Dyess, who is in her second term in office, was elected to the position of president pro tempore.
The election and swearing-in was held at the Science & Technology Magnet School during a rare in-person meeting of the council. The council has been sidelined from in-person meetings for two years because of City Hall renovation and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier in the evening, the Board of Education held its own organizational meeting at the same venue and elected Elaine Maynard Adams as its new president. Jefferey Hart was reelected as the vice president and Bryan Doughty as secretary.
Maynard Adams said the school board is facing challenging times and called on the school community to join together in solving issues facing the school district.
“Report unusual or suspicious activity,” Maynard Adams said. “Always reach out to us or administration with concerns and I’m quite certain our students and families will not allow themselves to be mislead by social media posts created by anonymous or uninformed or ill-intentioned bullies. We’re all in this together. This is our village and we will make it the best we can be.”
Democrats swept this year’s municipal election, securing all of the 14 seats available on both the City Council and Board of Education. The council is composed of Dominguez, Satti, Dyess, James Burke, Akil Peck, Martha Marx and Carmen Jocelyn Rosario. School board members are Doughty, Adams, Hart and newcomers Danni Cruz, Bianca Alexis, Nathan Caron and Frank Anthony Silva.
Rich Martin was additionally sworn in Monday as the new Democratic Registrar of Voters. Martin replaces Bill Giesing, a retired firefighter, who served in the position for the past 16 years.
Giesing said he is looking to spend more time with his family, play golf and “it would be nice to finally sleep in on Election Day.”
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