LEWISTON — Mayor-elect Bob Macdonald is fully aware that the biggest power he won in Tuesday’s runoff election isn’t spelled out in the City Charter.

“I’m not going to ask every night, but when I need to, I can call on people,” Macdonald said. “If we have an issue, we can start a calling list and get people in the chambers.”

Macdonald’s new job — he takes over from Mayor Larry Gilbert at the city’s inauguration ceremony Jan. 3 — is classified as that of a weak mayor. He doesn’t get a regular vote at council meetings or a say in the administrative running of the city.

But he does get an enhanced platform to push his agenda, and Macdonald is ready to use it.

“I won the election, now we get to make some things happen,” Macdonald said on election night.

The mayor’s direct powers and responsibilities are spelled out in Section 2.03 of the City Charter, and there are not many.

According the charter, the mayor presides at City Council meetings but can only vote to break a tie.

Gilbert said he’s only voted a few times. The power to run meetings can be significant, however, even if he doesn’t get to vote.

“I chaired the meetings, but I got to speak my opinion,” Gilbert said. “There was always a potential that I could vote. Consequently, the people who elected me gave me the authority to express myself.”

That power extended beyond the council chambers, Gilbert said.

“I did it at my coffee meetings, my column in the Twin City Times,” he said. “I think I had to try to lead.”

But the mayor can only lead councilors who are willing to follow. The job can be challenging if the two are in conflict.

“It was difficult to navigate,” Gilbert said. “There were meetings outside of council chambers — counter to state law. If they make decisions outside of council meetings, the best I could do was highlight it. And I tried to do that.”

The mayor decides who will be appointed to certain committees, boards, commissions and advisory groups, according to the charter, but even those powers are limited.

The mayor has the sole right to put people on three boards. He names members to the Planning and Appeals boards. He also names one person to the Finance Committee; the council president appoints two city councilors to the committee.

Those boards can make actual decisions, spend city money and overturn staff decisions — although those decisions can be appealed to the City Council.

Macdonald said last week he hadn’t begun to consider who his picks would be for those slots.

“I have some friends who have some strong opinions, but I don’t know if they want to get involved in all this stuff,” Macdonald said. “A couple probably do, but the majority voted for me, and that’s that. We’ll have to see what happens.” 

Councilors have to confirm the mayor’s picks for other boards, including the council’s representatives to the 911 Committee, the airport’s board of trustees, the library and the School Committee.

The City Council as a group names most of the other committee appointments, especially the Lake Auburn Watershed group, the transit committee shared with Auburn and the city’s taxi appeals board.

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