Salem Pushes Back Inauguration As Legal Dispute Drags On

SALEM, MA — A Lawrence Superior Court judge's order barring Salem from swearing-in Ward 6 City Councilor-elect Megan Riccardi Monday morning means all elected officials will have to wait to be inaugurated. Following Judge John Lu's injunction order Friday, the city decided to push back the inauguration that had been scheduled for Monday morning to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Testimony in the lawsuit filed by Jerry Ryan, who lost to Riccardi by one vote in November's election, was scheduled to resume Monday morning.

The rescheduled inauguration means the city council meeting that had been scheduled for Thursday night will likely be re-scheduled or canceled, Ward 5 City Councilor Josh Turiel said in a Facebook post. "Yes, this is when we normally would have a City Council meeting, but given the work that goes into it and the fact that the City Clerk's staff has been heavily involved in the court case, we're not going to have an agenda ready for that night anyways," Turiel wrote.

While most of the issues in Ryan's lawsuit has been resolved, he has yet to determine whether the city provided adequate translation services to a Spanish-speaking Ward 6 voter who said he was not allowed to cast a ballot even though he arrived at the polling place 20 minutes before it closed on Nov. 5.

In an email to city officials, Salem city solicitor Beth Rennard said Lu did not acknowledge a request by the city to resume the trial earlier or later on Monday so the inauguration could move forward as scheduled. The city charter specifically said city officials must be sworn in at 10 a.m. on the first Monday in the year following their election.

"Judge Lu declined to change the time of trial," Rennard wrote. "In addition to this irreconcilable conflict, the city clerk and her assistants will be otherwise occupied with preparations for and attendance at court on Monday, and likely Tuesday."