SomerWiki A source-grounded wiki about Somerville, Massachusetts

Who is who

Updated October 31, 2026

What's happening

Somerville's government turned over almost completely in the last year. Mayor Jake Wilson took office in January 2026 and rebuilt the org chart into a cabinet-style structure, meeting weekly with about nine senior administrators instead of the 27 who used to attend department-head meetings. The City Council seated new members in January, restructured itself into ten committees so every councilor chairs one, and has Lance Davis as president. City Clerk Kimberly Wells moved up to Chief Administrative Officer and Courtney Henderson took the clerk's job.

Three of the eleven councilors are leaving on December 31, 2026. Ward 3's Ben Ewen-Campen and at-large Councilor Will Mbah won State House seats in the September 1 state primary and resigned; Ward 2's JT Scott, who was on no ballot, resigned so the two wards can share one special election. Its calendar is now set: preliminary February 2, 2027, final March 24, 2027. Ward 3 is a two-way race so far, Derrick Rice against Serena Hollmeyer Taylor. Mbah's seat passes to Marianne Walles without a vote. See three Council seats turn over. Ward 1 Councilor Matthew McLaughlin lost his Senate bid and stays.

Mayor and administration

  • Jake Wilson — Mayor. Elected November 2025; ran the Finance Committee as a councilor before that. Warned on October 22 that FY28 faces the same constraints as FY27. See wilson-reorg.
  • Kimberly Wells — Chief Administrative Officer. Somerville's City Clerk for nearly five years, confirmed 5-0 to the CAO job on February 2. Presented the October 8 union-contract appropriations.
  • Sarah Anders — Chief of Staff. Presented the mayor's office reorganization to the Finance Committee on June 9.
  • Ed Bean — Director of Finance and City Auditor. The numbers voice in every budget fight; building the fire vehicle plan for the capital plan.
  • Michael Mastrobuoni — Budget Director. Ran the FY27 hearings and the "cut night"; presented the five-year capital plan on October 22 with its rule that every new project needs a financing strategy before it starts.
  • Cynthia Amara — City Solicitor / City Attorney. The Law Department's position shaped the school budget authority dispute and the 90 Washington procurement.
  • Courtney Henderson — City Clerk. Recommended 4-0 on May 4; previously Somerville's first multilingual public information officer. Received MassVOTE's Catalyst for Democracy award in October.
  • Tom Galligani — Executive Director of Strategy and Development (OSPCD), the department that absorbed planning, housing, economic development, and now sustainability. See equity-reorg.
  • Daniel Bartman — Director of Planning and Zoning. Presents nearly every item on zoning-amendments and backyard cottages; now owes plain-language fact sheets for each amendment.
  • Kortney Cena — Senior Planner; presented the state-ADU amendment and its 1,750 sq ft cap on October 1 (Backyard cottages, ADUs and lot splits).
  • Lisa-Anne Davidson — Director of Housing. Runs the consolidated rental waitlist — 4,302 households, closed. See rental-assistance.
  • Ellen Shachter — Director of Housing Stability. Her office serves over 1,100 households a year and holds the tenant legal-services contracts (Tenant protections).
  • Rachel Nadkarni — Director of Economic Development. Carried the UCH-TIF district proposal and the lab vacancy response.
  • Richard Raiche — Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management. Water mains, the new school MSBA process, capital plan, CSO plan; also chairs the MWRA Advisory Board.
  • Eric Weisman — Commissioner of Public Works. Interim before being confirmed 4-0 on May 4.
  • Bradley Rawson — Director of Mobility. Street projects, bus lanes, McGrath. Senior Transportation Planner Justin Schreiber carries the parking-maximum fix.
  • Brian Postlewaite — Director of Engineering. Sewer separation, resurfacing, stormwater.
  • Karin Carroll — Director of Health and Human Services.
  • Colin Zeigler — Director of Public Health. Explained the city's switch to vitamin D rat bait (The rodenticide fight) and reported on short-term rental enforcement (Rental registry).
  • Jon Hillman — Public Safety for All project manager, running the civilian oversight design and the co-response pilot.
  • David Slonina — Deputy Director of Information Technology; told councilors October 20 that the police's Blue Voice is the city's only AI-specific product (Surveillance, police technology and AI).
  • Maria Theresa Nagel — Director of the Office of Immigrant Advancement (Immigration protections).
  • Steven Nutter — Director of Sustainability and Environment.
  • Denise Taylor — Director of Communications and Public Engagement.
  • Amanda Nagim-Williams — Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. Carried the contested DHS camera grant, the zoning cleanup package and the warming center after-action report; on October 8 explained AA groups' displacement from the city-acquired Ralph & Jenny Center.
  • Josh McCorkle — property and tenant relations manager; negotiated the Armory leases.
  • Anne Gill — Director of People Operations (human resources).
  • Suzanne Rinfret — Director of Traffic and Parking.
  • William Fisher — Emergency Management Director. Owns the continuity-of-operations plan and reports on the winter warming center.
  • Steve Craig — Director of Constituent Services. 311, over 118,000 service requests a year.
  • Anna Gartsman — SomerStat Director.
  • Ashley Speliotis — Director of the Council on Aging.
  • Cathy Piantigini — Library Director.
  • Kevin Klein — Interim Director of Inspectional Services, on an extended temporary appointment. ISD enforcement is the sticking point in the rental registry and short-term-rental items.
  • Brendan Salisbury — the Council's Legislative and Policy Analyst; running the first recodification of the Code of Ordinances since 1963, with recommendations targeted for spring or summer 2027.
  • Shumeane Benford — Police Chief. Deputy Chief James Donovan is the department's Welcoming Communities point of contact. See surveillance-oversight.
  • Charles Breen — Fire Chief. Assistant Chief Sean Tierney handles apparatus. Ran the September 30 five-alarm fire in Teele Square (Teele Square hotel at the Pit).
  • Lydia Warren — Director of Arts and Culture since October 19, after a national search; previously ran West Virginia's Gabor Folklife Center. Rachel Strutt had been interim director (Arts and culture).

City Council

Eleven members: four at-large, seven wards. Terms run to the first business day of January 2028. The December 11, 2025 restructuring cut the committees to ten so each councilor chairs one.

  • Lance Davis — Ward 6; Council President, though several 2026 digests give McLaughlin that title after he served as president pro tempore May 14. Sponsor of the shelter zoning amendment; sits on the School Committee ex officio.
  • Matthew McLaughlin — Ward 1; chairs Public Health and Public Safety. Finished fourth in the 2nd Middlesex Senate primary and stays on the Council. Co-sponsor with Hardt of a resolution on aid to fire-hit small businesses (Teele Square hotel at the Pit).
  • JT Scott — Ward 2; chairs Legislative Matters, the committee holding the ethical procurement ordinance, the body camera policy and AI ordinance, the civilian oversight hearing and the short-term rental amendment. Resigned September 3, effective December 31, 2026, after nine years; has endorsed Derrick Rice for Ward 3.
  • Ben Ewen-Campen — Ward 3; chairs Land Use, which holds the administration's zoning package. Won the 27th Middlesex House nomination on September 1 and resigned effective December 31, 2026 (Three Council seats turn over).
  • Jesse Clingan — Ward 4; chairs Sustainability and Infrastructure.
  • Naima Sait — Ward 5; chairs Traffic and Parking. Pushed the rental registry hardest; filed the Armory lease order and the private-tree protection ordinance.
  • Emily Hardt — Ward 7; chairs Licenses and Permits. Lead sponsor of the October 8 287(g) resolution and a resolution with Link and Mbah for a regional, cost-shared CSO plan. Backs the eight-story Teele Square hotel: "Eight stories is not unreasonable for this lot."
  • Will Mbah — at-large; Council Vice President; chairs Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters. Top vote-getter in 2025 with 13,524; won the 34th Middlesex House nomination on September 1 and resigned by letter on September 11, effective December 31, 2026.
  • Marianne Walles — at-large councilor from January 2027, as the fifth-place finisher in November 2025 with 7,900 votes; a labor leader, social worker and former mayoral candidate. Already filing zoning comments with the Council (item 26-1369, Sept 10).
  • Ben Wheeler — at-large; chairs Finance. Also sits on the Somerville Redevelopment Authority board (90 Washington Street).
  • Kristen Strezo — at-large; chairs Housing, Community Development and Equity. Clashed with Ewen-Campen over the Cummings warming center; filed the Winter Hill bathroom items (School buildings and the schools' other fights).
  • Jonathan Link — at-large; chairs School Building Facilities and Maintenance. Sponsor of the level-entry zoning amendment (26-1373), the short-term rental crackdown (Rental registry) and the October 22 AI ordinance and resolution (Surveillance, police technology and AI).

School Committee

Seven ward members elected in 2025, plus the mayor and council president ex officio under charter section 4-1.

  • Emily Ackman — Ward 1; School Committee Chair. Argues one MSBA-funded school for Winter Hill and the Brown "saves taxpayer dollars." See The new school at 115 Sycamore Street.
  • Leiran Biton — Ward 7; Vice Chair. Voted on August 17 to send the 925-seat plan to the state "to avoid any delays." Chairs the School Committee's buildings subcommittee; the WSNS community's School Committee contact during the relocation (School buildings and the schools' other fights).
  • Elizabeth Eldridge (Ward 2), Michele Lippens (Ward 3), Andre Green (Ward 4), Laura Pitone (Ward 5), Emma Stellman (Ward 6) — the rest of the elected membership. Davis was the lone vote against the 925-seat submission.
  • Dr. Rubén Carmona — Superintendent of Schools. Defended the Student Liaison Officer model (School buildings and the schools' other fights); presents the new school's vision with Wilson on November 10 (The new school at 115 Sycamore Street).

State delegation

All four seats covering Somerville were contested in the September 1 primary; none of the four nominees has an opponent on Nov 3.

  • Pat Jehlen — State Senator, 2nd Middlesex, since 2005. Retiring in January. Lead sponsor of the Somerville rent-control home-rule petition, S.22.
  • Erika Uyterhoeven — State Representative, 27th Middlesex, since 2021; won the Democratic nomination for Jehlen's Senate seat with 37 percent. Sponsor of the tenant right-to-purchase petition, H.3910.
  • Ben Ewen-Campen — Democratic nominee, 27th Middlesex; takes office in January.
  • Will Mbah — Democratic nominee, 34th Middlesex, with 54.1 percent.
  • Christine Barber — State Representative, 34th Middlesex. Finished second in the Senate race and leaves the Legislature in January. Sponsor of the automated traffic enforcement petition, H.4179.
  • Mike Connolly — State Representative, 26th Middlesex (East Cambridge and East Somerville), since 2017. Sponsor of the real estate transfer fee petition, H.3930; says the MWRA's Magazine Beach tank is "dead on arrival" (Combined sewer overflows).

Boards

  • Michael Capuano — Planning Board Chair; Amelia Aboff — Vice Chair. Capuano opposed the parking-maximum fix and urged restricting parking stickers instead. The board's recommendations gate every zoning amendment; see before-the-boards.
  • Fiona DiMartino — Deputy Director of Planning and Zoning; staffs Planning Board and ZBA items.
  • Nicholas Salerno — Elections Director. Presented the Ward 2 and 3 special-election calendar on October 8: papers November 16, preliminary Tuesday, February 2, final Wednesday, March 24 (Three Council seats turn over).
  • Chris Dwan and Derrick Rice — chair and vice chair of the charter's Review of Multiple-Member Bodies Committee, which reports in December (Building out the 2025 charter). Rice declared for Ward 3 on September 12 and now faces Serena Hollmeyer Taylor.
  • Alessandra Seiter — chair of the Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee (Vitor Pamplona vice chair) (McGrath Boulevard).
  • Nick Pittman — managing trustee of the Affordable Housing Trust.
  • Zoning Board of Appeals — Anne Brockelman is vice chair; one seat was open, with applications due October 30. Deliberates on the Teele Square hotel variances November 4.
  • Somerville Redevelopment Authority — owns 90 Washington Street; chair Phil Ergolini. Senior Planner Ben Demers staffs it.
  • Historic Preservation Commission — six members and no alternates, per Somerville YIMBY, which wants its demolition-review power cut back (Zoning amendments in motion in 2026).

Outside actors

  • Bill White — former councilor (24 years) and land-use lawyer leading the opposition to the state-ADU amendment. John M. Connolly, another former councilor, joined him October 1 (Backyard cottages, ADUs and lot splits).
  • Crystal Huff — organized the 56-voter petition to drop the ground-story elevation minimum, now the mayor's 26-1259 (Zoning amendments in motion in 2026).
  • Aaron Weber — Somerville YIMBY writer behind its posts on missing-middle buildings and demolition review.
  • US2 — master developer for Union Square; represented by counsel Meredith Porter and Brian Hochleitner.
  • Wood Partners — designated developer for 90 Washington Street; 418 units in three buildings.
  • Hamilton Company — sought and then withdrew a Union Square rezoning; principal Jameson Brown.
  • Boynton Yards LandCo / Windsor Place Owner — filed the October 8 text amendment that would cut residential and arts space; the Union Square Neighborhood Council holds a benefits agreement with the applicant (Zoning amendments in motion in 2026).
  • Elaine Almquist — President, Davis Square Neighborhood Council; Kendra Fox is its secretary (Davis Square Neighborhood Council).
  • Serena Hollmeyer Taylor — president emeritus of the Somerville Homeless Coalition, co-founder of the Somerville Non-Profit Collaborative and a member of Wilson's transition committee; declared for Ward 3 on October 28. Emily Doran, co-chair of the Union Square Neighborhood Council, has expressed interest in Ward 2 (Three Council seats turn over).
  • Binoj Pradhan — developer of the Teele Square "Pit" hotel; the land is held by Laxmi and Jharana Pradhan, who also own 1135 Broadway, which burned September 30. Attorney Adam Dash represents the project (Teele Square hotel at the Pit).
  • Lynn Weissman — co-president of Friends of the Community Path, pressing for the Grand Junction connection at the Cambridge line (McGrath Boulevard).
  • Save the Alewife Brook — Kristen Anderson and Michael Lenotto brought the community alternative to the draft CSO plan.
  • Somerville Workers United — organizing roughly 200-220 non-unionized city workers with AFSCME Council 93 (The city workers' union drive).
  • Mike Jefferson — President, Firefighters Local 76. Argues traffic calming damages apparatus and slows response.
  • David Gibbs — executive director of the Community Action Agency of Somerville, which runs Head Start for about 115 children (Immigration protections).

What's next

  • November 4, 2026 — the ZBA deliberates on the Teele Square hotel.
  • November 16, 2026 — nomination papers out for Wards 2 and 3; due with 50 signatures by 5 p.m. December 9.
  • December 31, 2026 — Ewen-Campen, Scott and Mbah leave; Walles is sworn in within about three weeks. Legislative Matters, Land Use and Appointments get new chairs.
  • February 2 and March 24, 2027 — the Ward 2 and 3 preliminary and final. See Three Council seats turn over.