One thing is for certain: Tuesday promises to be historic for Framingham. For the first time in its three-plus centuries, voters will elect a mayor.

In April, residents narrowly voted to change from a town to a city form of government.

A seven-way preliminary election in September narrowed the mayoral field to two: Yvonne Spicer, a 55-year-old Museum of Science vice president and Town Meeting member, and John Stefanini, a 53-year-old attorney and former selectman and state representative.

Spicer won the preliminary comfortably, outpacing Stefanini 5,967 to 3,184 votes. In the run-up to the general election, the two have sparred verbally, staking out positions on key issues facing the city of nearly 70,000 residents.

The mayor’s salary will start off the same as the current town manager’s salary: $186,639.50.

On the issues, both talk about the importance of improving the downtown and shopping centers riddled by blight and vacancies. Both sayturning around four underperforming schools is a priority.

Stefanini laments that Framingham has become less affordable. Water and sewer rates have gone up in recent years, he said, and the combined tax rate is the third-highest in the state. He said Framingham needs to expand its commercial tax base. The municipal budget tops $300 million, including water and sewer revenues.

Spicer wants to draw more technology companies, the type that offer good salaries but also add “market value’’ to the community, she said. She said the scourge of opioid addiction is a reality that must be faced.

The real clash, though, has been over experience and character.

Stefanini, an old hand when it comes to the sometimes combative local politics, has framed Spicer as woefully lacking in government experience and detached from the community.

Before starting a stint on Town Meeting last year, she had never held elected office. She didn’t bother to vote in a string of local elections during the last decade, he said.

“I think it’s a matter of being transparent and honest,’’ said Stefanini, who once served as legal counsel to former House Speaker Thomas Finneran. “She has represented or left people with the impression that she’s active in the community.’’

Stefanini contends he has more experience in crafting municipal budgets and hiring managers. It’s a message that resonates with supporters like Jennifer Ryan.

“I’m looking for someone to hit the ground running on day one and can do the job,’’ said Ryan, who works in admissions at a Catholic school in Framingham.

Spicer counters that Stefanini’s political experience is from a bygone era. Stefanini last served as selectman in 1997, and as a state representative in 2001. Framingham, she said, has changed since then.

She dismissed his criticism that she hasn’t been civically engaged as “a bunch of malarkey.’’

Sue Bernstein, a former Planning Board and Town Meeting member who is supporting Spicer, said Stefanini’s political and business connections could make him beholden to special interests. Stefanini rejected that notion.

“Yvonne is a fresh new face and has no allegiances to a particular segment of the community,’’ Bernstein said. “She offers a fresh start with no ties or obligations. That is a plus.’’

One of the campaign’s most contentious moments happened in the Framingham Public Library.

On May 13, the library’s surveillance video captured Stefanini meddling with Spicer campaign materials. The video, obtained by The MetroWest Daily News, shows Stefanini moving campaign materials that had been placed in the library by a Spicer supporter behind a trash can and removing news articles relating to Spicer from a display board.

“I was quite shocked and dismayed by what was observed on that video,’’ Spicer said.

Stefanini has apologized, but the two camps have bickered over when his apology was actually issued. It was his understanding that municipal campaign materials were not allowed at the library, he said.

Still, the Spicer campaign pounced on the incident and included a link to the footage in a campaign mailer.

During the preliminary election, Spicer focused “almost all of the campaign activity based on two minutes of my life at the library,’’ Stefanini said.

“They never talked about any issues that mattered to the community,’’ he said.

Globe correspondent Jennifer Fenn Lefferts contributed to this report. Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Danny__McDonald.