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	Pimental's Seat Will Stay Vacant; Name Will Be off Ballot By Aaron Nicodemus Standard-Times September 26, 2007 http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070926/NEWS/709260384/1011/TOWN10 NEW BEDFORD — The Ward 6 City Council seat will remain open through the end of the year, after Leo R. Pimental died unexpectedly Tuesday. His name will be left off the Nov. 6 municipal election ballot, meaning that the seat will be won by candidates who run sticker and write-in campaigns. Related Stories New Bedford mourns the loss of Council President Leo Pimental, 49 Mr. Pimental, 49, was Ward 6 councilor for the past six years, and was elected City Council president in January. He was unopposed for a fourth term on the City Council. David Alves, first vice president and immediate past president of the City Council, will take over Mr. Pimental's duties as president until January, when the City Council will vote on a reorganization. Election Commissioner Maria Tomasia said that since Mr. Pimental's name is not on the Oct. 2 preliminary election ballot because he was unopposed, those ballots do not have to be changed. The municipal election ballots have not been printed. Ms. Tomasia said people will be able to vote for candidates for Ward 6 by applying stickers supplied by candidates, or by writing names in the blank space on the ballot. All the ballots will have to be counted by hand, she said. "It's going to be interesting to see who comes out of the woodwork," she said. City Solicitor Irene B. Schall said that according to the city charter, the City Council is not required to appoint someone to fill a ward councilor's term if the seat is vacated with less than six months to go. A vacancy in an at-large seat would have to be filled immediately, no matter how much time is left in the term, she said. Such was the case the last time a vacancy occurred on the ballot: Thomas Kennedy resigned from his at-large seat in 2002, citing post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by the priest sexual abuse scandal. The City Council appointed Brian K. Gomes, who had run unsuccessfully for mayor, to fill Mr. Kennedy's unexpired term. Contact Aaron Nicodemus at anicodemus@s-t.com.
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