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A record 3,579 city residents voted in the election. There are more than 26,000 registered voters in Gaithersburg.

One Gaithersburg billed itself as a ‘‘movement” representing the poor and disenfranchised residents of the city, many of them immigrants. The concerns voiced by the group aren’t going away and neither are One Gaithersburg supporters, Gerson said.

Newcomers Cathy Drzyzgula of Olde Towne, Jud Ashman of Orchard Place and Ryan Spiegel of the Kentlands claimed the three open seats on Gaithersburg’s five-member City Council.

Only Spiegel was endorsed by One Gaithersburg, a quasi political action committee whose membership spent more than $10,000 on behalf of three candidates.

‘‘In terms of keeping the issues alive, as an elected member of City Council, I intend to work hard to represent all the residents of the city, and that certainly includes the communities who were involved in the One Gaithersburg effort,” Spiegel said Monday.

‘‘I believe that certain segments of our city, including the Hispanic population, lower socioeconomic-income residents and others have been traditionally under-represented,” he said. ‘‘Insofar as One Gaithersburg’s goal is to ensure representation for those communities and others within our city I gladly support that goal.”

One Gaithersburg listed a number of member groups on its campaign literature and Web site, including regional labor unions and immigrant advocacy groups, but Gerson said the coalition is not a political action committee because it has no bank account or treasurer.

Never before in Gaithersburg have outside interests infused so much money and effort into a city election, said Assistant City Manager Fred Felton. The city’s current election laws do not adequately address such sophisticated campaign spending and list no specific requirement for political action committees to file financial disclosures, he said.

One Gaithersburg filed a voluntary financial accounting in response to several complaints filed with the city’s election board that show $10,500 was spent by seven activist groups and political action committees, one listing membership from as far away as New Jersey.

Bruce Goldensohn, mayor of Gaithersburg from 1978 to 1986, said he wished that regional interests, especially political action committees, had not gotten involved in the race.

‘‘My only concern is that a political action committee understand all the local issues before they get involved in the municipal elections,” he said. ‘‘And I don’t understand how somebody from New Jersey or anyone outside the immediate Gaithersburg area ... would understand the problems facing Gaithersburg.”

Goldensohn said that some of the concerns cited by One Gaithersburg — such as inequity of performance among city schools and limited health care opportunities for low-income residents — are county, state and federal issues that are not meant to be addressed in the city’s $50.6 million budget, Goldensohn said. If political action committees are allowed to stay in city politics, experts said this week, Gaithersburg’s reporting requirements must be revised.

‘‘Disclosure needs to be full and it needs to be knowledgeable to everybody at least a week before the election — even more so from PACs than individuals,” said Lee Annis of Montgomery College in Rockville, a history professor in the political science department. ‘‘All PACs are special interests and the public needs to know who is behind each candidate.”

The city will likely be reconsidering its election code, Felton said.

The city’s Board of Supervisors of Elections is investigating four complaints alleging violation of the city’s campaign laws by One Gaithersburg and by the Spiegel campaign.

The board will hold a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27 to determine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that the allegations are true, said board supervisor Joan Moore.

‘‘If there is, they will go to the next step, which presumably will be hearing,” said Assistant City Manager Fred Felton. ‘‘And if not, that would be the end of the matter.”

Felton said he has received a ‘‘rash” of e-mails from city residents following the initial four complaints that the Board is reviewing.

Representing the people

Projections released by the city in July show Gaithersburg as a majority minority city, with a population estimated as 45 percent white, 23 percent Hispanic, 13.8 percent black, 13.7 percent Asian and less than five percent other races, such as American Indian and Pacific Islander.

City estimates show 23 percent of Gaithersburg’s residents are not citizens of the United States.

Changing demographics mean changing issues for the City Council, which now has a majority of first-time members.

‘‘To be blunt, it is going to be a significant change when 60 percent of the council is brand-new,” said Goldensohn. ‘‘... All three [new members] bring qualifications to the job, and I would think that on the overall, it’s good to have new perspectives and new ideas.”

One Gaithersburg endorsed three candidates it said would create a bridge to minority and immigrant communities: Ahmed Ali, Carlos Solis and Spiegel, who served as an early spokesman for the group. The group cited concerns of the poor and disenfranchised, such as a need for more affordable housing and after-care programs in city schools.

‘‘There’s a great opportunity for the newly-elected majority to demonstrate leadership and sensitivity to these issues,” Gerson said. ‘‘In two years there will be more people concerned with these issues if the city does not take a protective role in responding to them.”