City Councilman Wayne Dougherty cemented his lead Thursday over Councilman Gary Wasielewski in the race for mayor, capturing enough of the absentee ballots to unofficially make him the Havre de Grace?s next leader.
The city?s first canvass of absentee ballots added 24 votes to Dougherty?s 732 and 15 to Wasielewski?s 694, widening the gap to 47 votes.
There are not enough absentee and provisional ballots yet uncounted to make up the gap, but the results will not be official until they are announced at the May 21 council meeting.
“I feel very good, but there?s a lot of work ahead,” Dougherty said after the absentee ballot count was announced at City Hall and he had called his wife to tell her the news.
Wasielewski was on hand for the beginning of the ballot count, but had to return to teaching at Havre de Grace High School across the street. Officials from the county board of elections opened, counted, scanned and tallied 57 absentee ballots ? and one utility bill that had been accidentally slipped into the ballot envelope.
“I wasn?t surprised,” Wasielewski said later. “I knew it was going to be a long shot” to close the gap.
While he said he would like to dedicate more time to exploring and promoting local history over the next year, he had not ruled out another run for council or mayor.
“Havre de Grace elections can be unusual. Four years ago, people were surprised when I came in first place for council after only four years living here,” Wasielewski said.
Wasielewski and Dougherty were the top two contenders among four candidates for mayor; incumbent John Correrri was unseated after getting 13 percent of the vote, while Councilman Fred Cullum got 9 percent.
Dougherty pledged that his administration would work to be open with the public and would start immediately to avoid leaving unfinished business.
“I want to get together with the mayor first, and bring in a transition team to address what?s still on the table,” Dougherty said.
His first act will be to issue three executive orders, he said: to commission a complete study of the city?s water and sewer operations; to review and modernize the city?s department of human resources; and to form a task force and study safety and risk management at the city?s facilities, which should bring down the costs of insurance.
