It appears Watertown residents want change.
"Yes and actually they sent a message with the primary," said City Councilor-Elect Lisa Ruggiero.
And election results show change will come to the city council.
"It was very exciting to see the results come in," said City Councilor-Elect Ryan Henry-Wilkinson.
Two new councilors will take office in January: Henry-Wilkinson and Ruggiero. Each agree that voters are seeking something different in city government. The election of the two has pushed incumbents Teresa Macaluso and Stephen Jennings out of office.
"I think people were looking for change in a broad sense," said Henry-Wilkinson.
This year's election of change is a trend for voters over the last few years. In 2015, voters ended the 20-year mayorship of Jeff Graham by electing then-Councilor Joseph Butler to office. With two seats open that year, voters elected two new councilors: Mark Walzyck and Cody Horbacz.
What is it that voters want from their city government?
"We want change, we don't want incumbents; we want new people to get things done," said Ruggiero.
"But I think they're also looking for a recourse for what I would say is a lack of attention that is being paid to them," said Henry-Wilkinson.
These councilors-elect believe voters want transparency and efficiency from council. Along with that, both agree that residents want the ongoing contract dispute between the city and its fire department to end.
"To me and to many of the voters, it's just a big waste of money and they want to see it dropped," said Ruggiero.
"The people I've been talking to, they're not comfortable having their fire service cut. They think it's a necessary service," said Henry-Wilkinson.
Whatever the message may be, voters seemingly want fresh ideas and faces.
"You know we really need to be listening to the voters. What is it that they think? What is it that they want?" asked Ruggiero.
"But I think we're going to see positive results because we've flipped the majority opinion on some of these issues," said Henry-Wilkinson.