Ward 5 Alderman Sean O'Donovan to Step Down Thursday

Ward 5 Alderman Sean O'Donovan is expected to step down from the Somerville Board of Aldermen at the Board's Thursday night meeting, according to a meeting agenda.

O'Donovan will move to appoint Courtney O'Keefe as his replacement, the agenda says. Many know O'Keefe from her work with Ward5Online.

As of this posting, O'Donavan had not responded to a voicemail and email seeking comments about his decision.

O'Donovan steps down in an election year in which he would have faced a potentially tough challenger: Mark Niedergang, who serves as Ward 5's representative on the Somerville School Committee, announced in 2012 he would seek the Ward 5 seat on the Board of Aldermen.

O'Donavan has served on the Board of Aldermen since 2000, and before then he served as a School Committee member beginning in 1995, according to Scout Somerville.

O'Donovan's expected resignation from the Board of Aldermen comes four months after another long-serving alderman, . Roche's appointed replacement on the Board, Maureen Bastardi, is running for the office this year against at least two other candidates.

Ward 5 already has at least three people running this year to serve on the School Committee, and it will be interesting to see if O'Donovan's resignation entices more people to run for alderman.