The former mayor of Stephenville is back on council after being urged to run by concerned citizens.

Tom O’Brien, Maurice Hynes and Darren Roberts were all elected to council last week in a hotly contested byelection that saw 12 people come forward to fill three vacancies.

The new councilors were sworn-in yesterday.

Former town councillor Lenny Tiller spoke out last month after tendering his resignation, describing a dysfunctional workplace marked by bullying and intimidation.

That, says O’Brien, is one of the reasons why he decided to run again.

“Residents were certainly expressing a concern and dissatisfaction with some of the decisions council were making and the direction they were going. I had a lot of encouragement from throughout the community.”

O’Brien says the first priority is addressing workplace issues.

“We’ve got some great staff, but they’re totally stressed out,” says O’Brien, “basically waiting for the next shoe to drop. There’s things that need to be cleaned-up.”