Dr. Black changes his mind

City Councilor Dr. Douglas Black has decided not to run for reelection after all.
In email to the council members earlier today, Black said a recent death in his family had "given me pause to look at my priorities."
"I need to spend more time with my family, my day jobs and my church," he said.
Black said he enjoyed being a councilor and was "grateful" to all of those who voted for him.
"Concord is a great city and is indeed well run," he said.

Black's decision not to run, along with Lemieux, means there will be at least two new councilors coming on board later this year. It also means there will probably be a mad dash over the next nine weeks to win that open seat.
With a mayoral race not likely this year, a competitive at-large race and school board race, which is also city-wide, should boost voter turnout.
In 2007, six candidates ran for the two seats but the turnout was 20 percent. In 2006, a number of people ran for the special election to finish out one of the terms of a former councilor who resigned. In 2005, a wide field ran for the seats currently being held by Black and St. Hilaire but the lack of a mayoral race kept the turnout to a paltry 14 percent.
Juxtapose that with the Ward councilors who very rarely see challenges. But, in fact, due to the size, Ward races are much easier to run than at-large races.
I'm hearing some rumors that there will be at least a few competitive Ward races this year. So we'll see what happens.