By Michael S. Hoey
CORRESPONDENT
The Delavan Common Council voted unanimously last week not to fill the vacancy created on the council when former alderman Dave Kilkenny resigned Nov. 12.
The council had voted Nov. 20 to advertise the vacancy, and then listen to interested candidates and potentially fill the position Dec. 11. The person selected would have had to run for election in April.
Residents Ron Grair, Chris Phillips and Sam Riggs submitted letters of interest to be appointed to replace Kilkenny and all three have taken out papers to run in the April election.
Alderman Gary Stebnitz moved not to make an appointment. He said the council has three well-qualified candidates who have done a lot for the community but he said the voters should decide who Kilkenny’s replacement should be. Stebnitz said appointing someone now might give him a leg up on the other two candidates in the April election. He also said believes the council can get by for another four months without the position being filled.
Alderman Mary O’Connor, who had argued in favor of filling the position and made the motion to advertise for candidates Nov. 20, changed her mind and said the people should decide. She said she had favored filling the position in part because the Public Works Committee only has two members without Kilkenny, so the committee could have tie votes. She no longer considered that a major issue because the committee can always refer deadlocked issues to the council if necessary.
O’Connor said if Kilkenny had resigned sooner, she might have favored filling the vacancy. With just a few months until the election, she favored letting the people decide.
Alderman Bruce DeWitt agreed with not making an appointment, saying it usually takes new aldermen 60 days or so to get to speed when joining the council.
Alderman Jeff Johnson said making an appointment would be easy if there were only one candidate. Since there are three qualified candidates, he agreed the people should decide.
“It would be presumptuous of me to pick one,” Johnson said. “The people of the Second District should feel grateful there are three people that want the job.”
Alderman Ryan Schroeder called the situation unique and said vacancies that have come up in the past occurred with more time before the next election. Schroeder agreed with not making the appointment and said anyone from the Second District who felt underrepresented could contact DeWitt, who also represents the Second District, or any other alderman with concerns.
Mayor Mel Nieuwenhuis disagreed with not making an appointment now. He said the council and the Second District have already been without an alderman for three months and the Public Works Committee needs more than two members. He said the council has three qualified candidates to choose from and is shortchanging the people of the Second District by not selecting one. Nieuwenhuis said new aldermen adapt quickly and some important meetings are coming up.
Phillips said he will definitely run for election in April. He said he argued at the Nov. 20 meeting that making an appointment would be a waste of time, but the council decided to proceed at that point wasting the time of Phillips and the other two candidates.
“I am deeply upset with the council,” he said. “The Second District is not represented.”
Phillips said in addition to writing a letter of interest, he also prepared for this meeting just in case he was selected.
“This is why I am running,” he said. “The council needs to make tough decisions and do what is best for the citizens.”
Resident Merlyn Dahl told the council they “chickened out” by not making a decision. Dahl said the council was set to spend $250,000 for various things on the meeting agenda while the Second District remained underrepresented.
Police agreement
The council approved a shared services agreement with the Village of Darien to provide police services for the village beginning Jan. 1.
“It will improve service and provide cost benefits to both communities,” Administrator Denise Pieroni said.
“The costs will not be passed onto the citizens of Delavan,” DeWitt said.
Darien will pay the city $465,000 in 2013, $495,000 in 2014 and $525,000 in 2015.
“It is a great agreement that helps them and makes our department better,” DeWitt said.
The Village Board approved the contract Monday.
To read the rest of this story please pick up the Dec. 20 issue of the Delavan Enterprise
