Two issues simmering over the summer were brought to the boiling point at Monday night's City Council meeting, the first since July 26.

A contentious debate over the renewal of City Manager Robert W. Healy's contract and a vote authorizing the city to put links to City Council candidates on its Web site were the main topics of discussion at the meeting.

The highlight of the evening was a debate about Healy's contract, according to local political analyst Robert Winters.

At the July 26 meeting, the council voted 6-3 against an order brought up by Councillor Timothy J. Toomey Jr. to notify Healy that his contract would not be renewed past its current June 30, 2000 expiration date.

The city manager's two-year contract will automatically be renewed for one additional year if the City Council does not act by Dec. 30, since a search for a new city manager requires at least a six-month search.

A reconsideration of Toomey's order sparked the latest debate when the council met Monday night after its summer recess, and again the council voted 6-3 with the same result.

City Councillors Kenneth E. Reeves '72, Toomey and Katherine Triantafillou voted against Healy both times, while the other councillors said they should keep "somebody who's done a pretty good damn job," in the words of Councillor Henrietta Davis.

The first part of the debate was "mean-spirited," said Winters, who is also a candidate in the Nov. 2 City Council election.

"When people get frustrated, they lash out," he said, referring to Reeves, Toomey's and Triantafillou's efforts to end the city manager's contract.