The more things change, the more they … change a little.

When the Bristol Town Council met virtually last Wednesday, Dec. 9, the same five people who had served in office from 2018 to 2020 gathered to renew their very familiar acquaintances. As has become familiar, Democrat Nathan Calouro was unanimously chosen by his peers to be the council chairman for the next two years, which will be his fourth consecutive term as chairman.

After the vote, Mr. Calouro said to his colleagues, “Thank you all for your support and trust. It is humbling. And I know we say ‘humbling’ a lot, but it truly is.”

The council next turned its attention to vice chairman, a role that belonged to Democrat Timothy Sweeney for the past six years. However, the council split votes on this appointment. Independent Councilor Antonio “Tony” Teixeira nominated Republican Mary Parella for the role, while Democrat Aaron Ley nominated Mr. Sweeney. Ms. Parella received votes from Mr. Calouro, Mr. Teixeira and herself and was named vice chairwoman, while Mr. Ley voted for his nominee and Mr. Sweeney voted for himself.

As soon as that was complete, several councilors made statements of support for each other, despite the split voting. Said Vice Chairwoman Parella, “This is an interesting year, and party affiliations are not really that important, and I think this is a good opportunity to show our broad range of support across the board.” She jokingly added that she hopes to earn the respect and support of all her colleagues, which prompted Mr. Sweeney to laugh and say he has always respected her and worked very well with her, and he’s sure that will continue.

Mr. Ley said, “I think the voters sent a strong signal to us, to continue moving forward on the way we do things … At the end of the day, we all continue to work together, even if we disagree on some of the issues.”

Mr. Teixeira said he voted for Ms. Parella because she is the “senior” member of the council (referring to her experience and number of years served), which sparked a brief, witty exchange between Mr. Teixeira and Ms. Parella about which one of them is actually older.

That was as deep as anyone went into explaining the switch from Mr. Sweeney to Ms. Parella, but there were indications throughout the 2020 election that all members of the Bristol Democratic Party were not rowing in exactly the same direction.

Reflecting a divide between the more moderate and the more progressive members of the party, many Bristol houses displayed either Mr. Calouro’s political signs or the four progressive candidates’ signs — rarely did they display both. At polling locations and in other subtle or obvious ways, the four progressive candidates were often promoted as a group, while Mr. Calouro was not included.

In the end, Mr. Calouro emerged as the General Election voters’ favorite, with 6,277 votes. Mr. Teixeira was second at 6,104 and Ms. Parella third at 6,051. Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Ley, both typically identified as progressive, finished more than 500 and more than 850 votes behind, respectively.

Judges and others appointed

At the same meeting, the council appointed a handful of other people to town service. All of the following votes were unanimous:

• The firm of Urillo, Teitz and Ritch was rehired as the town’s solicitors, or legal advisors.

• Richard Abilheira was reappointed the town’s Probate Judge; applicant Dean Robinson was not chosen.

• Jane Howlett (judge), Paul Silva (associate judge) and John Ferreira (baliff) were appointed to serve on the town’s Municipal Court.

• Archie Martins was reappointed as Town Sergeant.

• Jennifer Walsh was appointed Deputy Town Clerk, a role she once held for 10 years and will resume in the new Bristol Town Clerk’s office. The Dec. 9 meeting marked the first public role for Town Clerk Melissa Cordeiro, who replaced retired clerk Louis Cirillo earlier this month.