Wakefield's Mike McLane Wins Unique Town Council Seat

WAKEFIELD, MA — Mike McLane will finish the late Peter May's term on Town Council after winning a unique special election with startlingly low turnout.

McLane, an attorney and former chairman of the Board of Assessors, defeated former Town Council Paul DiNocco, 392-248, according to unofficial results.

McLane will serve roughly nine weeks until the April 26 Town Election, which he has said leading up to Tuesday's election he will be running in — now as an incumbent. DiNocco had said he would not run again in April.

Town Council opted to leave the May's seat vacant until the April election, voting against the special election in November.

The argument was that it wasn't worth the trouble of getting someone for less than two months. A special election can cost the city between $15,000-$20,000. Some were concerned with confusing voters and granting someone the power of the incumbency heading into April.

"There's many facets to it, to include the schools, money and the length of time and the procedure that it takes for someone from the time they pulls papers until they actually have the election," Town Clerk Betsy Sheeran said at the time.

But a petition gathered enough signatures to trigger the election anyways.

May died in October after a battle with ALS. He was in his second term on the council, having joined in 2016 and winning re-election in 2019