By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The new City Council looks a lot like the old council – or at least City Councils from the recent past – after Tuesday’s election.

Voters put Lillian O’Brien back into her Ward 3 council seat, giving her the edge over Marc Mason by 544 votes to 312. In Ward 5, voters gave the edge to Paul Samson, giving him 471 votes to Larry Poulin’s 256.

Council seats for the remaining five of Lewiston’s seven wards returned unchallenged incumbents to office for two-year terms.

The race in Ward 3 returned O’Brien to office for a second term. Mason, no stranger to the City Council, served two years ago in Ward 5; he was moved out of that ward by shifting ward-district boundaries on the city map.

Neither candidate campaigned extensively.

“I didn’t do any more than she did, and she didn’t do any more than I did,” Mason said. “It was just as simple as that.”

The only chance for new blood was in Ward 5, where newcomer Larry Poulin faced Samson, a former Ward 5 councilor. Poulin said he was hopeful, despite running a quiet and inexpensive campaign. He waited until this weekend to canvass the homes in his ward, handing out brochures.

“(Samson) has great recognition among the senior citizens, and that’s who’ve been out so far today,” Poulin said Tuesday morning. He was hoping for a late afternoon push from younger voters, which never materialized.

Name recognition and the lack of campaign could have hurt him. Ward 5 voters polled Tuesday said they simply didn’t know who he was.

“But Samson, I like him a lot,” said Simone Gagne of 162 Horton St. “He’s been good every time he’s out for our ward.”

Marvin Coker, 49 Bradley St., said Samson’s campaign convinced him.

“I knew Samson because of the cards he mailed out,” he said. “He looks like a good experienced guy.”

Ward 1’s Stavros Mendros said he thinks the lack of turnover means the past council has been doing a good job.

“Overall, I’m very happy with the people on the council and with the staff, and I think people agree,” he said.

Soucy in Ward 6

Denise Soucy, of 132 Dyer Road, is the new Ward 6 representative to the Lewiston School Committee. That news came as a complete surprise to her, and she said Tuesday night she wasn’t even sure she wants the job.

“I have to talk it over with my husband, first of all,” Soucy said. “I have a lot of thinking to do.”

Soucy collected 23 write-in votes, the most in a list of more than 30 names. Former member Ronella Paradis, the woman who just stepped down from the position, had the next-highest number with four votes.

Soucy said she had talked about the vacancy with some friends.

“I said it was too bad and hoped someone would step forward,” she said.

Soucy has served on school committees before, at Holy Cross School in Lewiston. She’s currently a member of the parent teacher organization at Montello School.

Paradis, an eight-year committee member, decided not to seek another term, and no successors stepped forward during the campaign.