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Ryan Pereira will be the new council president when the 2026 term begins just after New Year’s. The Ward 6 City Council is a shoo-in unless the unexpected happens as the votes come down to the wire.
Multiple sources on the council, including Pereira himself, say they believe the two-term councilor has gathered the simple majority of six votes on the 11-member body to take the seat on the president’s dais. Pereira, 28, will be the second young council president in a row, succeeding Councilor-at-large Shane Burgo, who was elected president last year at age 31.
Burgo could theoretically succeed himself but it would take a ¾ majority, or eight votes the second year instead of six votes. The bias is against the president staying too long and accruing too much power.
It’s not unknown, though. Former Councilor John Saunders in 2004 was elected to three successive terms as council president when he encouraged councilors not to play for the cable TV cameras. Burgo, however, has said he did not want to run for a second consecutive term.
Pereira has apparently been able to gather the necessary votes in a contest in which multiple sources said that Councilor-at-large Ian Abreu and Ward 3 Councilor Shawn Oliver had also expressed interest in being the face of the city’s legislative body next year. But Abreu, the top vote getter in the at-large race the last four elections, was said to have dropped out early. Multiple sources on the council said that Pereira and Oliver had talked about Pereira taking the presidency this year in return for Pereira being open to supporting Oliver next year.
The City Council is a non-partisan body. Pereira’s political positions might best be described as moderate while Oliver is more conservative. Neither could be described as progressive, especially on fiscal issues.
Oliver said he had decided he was too busy with “personal and professional” responsibilities to do the job this year. He is seeking a promotion in his career as a state corrections officer.
The City Council president in New Bedford is the public face of the body in the media, and also the council’s principal liaison with the mayor’s office. But its real power is in the assignment of committee chairmanships that control the agendas of what issues the body takes up.
And that may be where the real news is made when Pereira takes over on Jan. 5, because he says he wants to reconfigure the way the council works in order to make it function more efficiently.
Specifically, Pereira said he is considering recommending that the council reduce the size of some of its committees, refer fewer motions to the committees for study, and encourage the committee chairpersons not to bottle up issues they oppose in their committees.
“That’s an issue I feel really strongly about,” Pereira said, of the large number of issues, even non-controversial ones, that get delayed because they are transferred to the council committees.
Pereira estimated that about one-third of the motions (most through the mayor’s office) have already been well-researched, often by city department heads, and that there is sufficient consensus on the council to adopt them when they are first presented. “I think it would save time for everybody,” he said — the department heads, the city employees in general, the public.
Pereira also said the council should consider reducing the size of some of its committees. Over the past 25 years, nearly all the council committees have become “committees of the whole.” That means all 11 councilors sit on most of the committees.
“Some committees could be smaller, that is on the table,” Pereira said.
When all 11 councilors sit on a committee, that means a larger number of councilors have to be present for committees to have a quorum, and with more councilors involved in virtually every matter taken up by the city, that can cause delays in government moving efficiently.
All councilors eventually get to vote on every motion if the committee votes to recommend the matter go before the full council.
Pereira gave the example of the Audit Committee, which this year consisted of five (instead of 11 members) and was able to monitor city spending in a real time as it occurred. Pereira himself was the chair of the committee. He credited it with helping keep spending under control as the year went along, as opposed to the council jumping in after spending had already taken place.
Pereira said he does not like it if committee chairs hold up issues they oppose within their committees.
For many recent years, some issues have languished in committees when the chair does not wish to move them forward.
Pereira said he would rely on committee chairs’ discretion on when to move motions forward. He said he does not think the chairs will hold issues up next year. If they do, he will speak with them and hear their concerns, he said.
“I don’t like things being held up in committee,” he said.
Contact Jack Spillane at jspillane@newbedfordlight.org
The question has to be asked is this the best the City Council has to offer? This council has looked weak for years, they have let this mayor expand city government and support non profits, while creating no economic growth and running this city on limited state aid and raising taxes. We also cannot afford the continuance of the past Council President’s social agenda that supported the creation of homeless encampments and safe injection sites. Taxpayers have had enough, the tax rate was just set, and our taxes are going up and now the mayor is boasting a 13 Million Dollar Surplus. Don’t you think this Council should have made deeper cuts to the budget in June. 100% New Bedford deserves better and we need strong leadership on the City Council.