AUBURN — A pair of former city councilors will join the School Committee following Tuesday’s election.

Ward 1 voters elected unopposed candidate Michael Farrell, and Ronald Potvin took one of the two at-large positions, ousting incumbent Francois Bussiere.

Incumbent Laurie Tannenbaum took the most at-large votes with 1,461. Potvin took the other seat with 1,248, edging out another former councilor, Robert Mennealy, who garnered only 12 votes fewer with a total of 1,236 votes. Bussiere followed with 913, and Christopher Langis took 674.

In Ward 3, Thomas Kendall managed to hold on to his seat with 294 votes to challenger Daniel Herrick’s 255 votes. 

In Ward 5, Lawrence Pelletier also held on to his seat, besting Stanwood Gray by a vote of 409-220.

Like Farrell, Bonnie Hayes in Ward 2 and Tracey Levesque in Ward 4 were elected without opposition.

Potvin, who served as the City Council’s representative to the School Committee during his tenure, said he believed he and Farrell may be able to act as spoilers in regard to some decisions looming before school officials.

Among them is the fate of Edward Little High School, he said.

“I don’t have a problem bringing things up,” Potvin said. “I don’t think we’ll be able to change the agenda, but we should be able to hold things up if we need to.”

However, he wants to work with other committee members, he said.

“I’m kind of excited this time around,” he said. “It’s going to have a different feel.”

Tannenbaum declined to speak in detail about the changes on the committee but said she was grateful for her votes.

“I’m very happy to be re-elected,” she said.

Pelletier said he, too, wants to wait and see how the new committee works together.

“We have a lot of work in front of us,” he said. He also hopes the new group will be able to foster cooperation with the City Council.

“We’ve been trying to build a better relationship,” Pelletier said. “I’m hopeful we can still build on that relationship.”

dhartill@sunjournal.com