News : City Council Moves to appoint Andrew Elwick to 2nd Ward Seat

The Vinton City Council moved to appoint Andrew Elwick to fill his father's 2nd Ward Seat on the 9th

Click to view video of part one of the Special City Council Meeting

At Monday night's city council meeting, the council moved to appoint Andrew Elwick to the seat which was vacated by his father, Ron Elwick on January 1.

Before opening the Citizen's Input section of the meeting, Mayor Bud Maynard instructed those in attendance that there would be a 2 minute time limit to speak.

The first to speak was Darren Sellers, who has been outspoken in addressing concerns with the legality of the actions of the council over the past two appointments.

Before beginning, the Mayor asked Sellers for his address. After stating the address, the Mayor inquired if that was his business or home address, stating that he "needed to know." Sellers explained that he and his wife just recently moved back to Vinton, opening a business at the location. The couple have moved back from Wisconsin and are still in transition, Seller stating that he believed that he was indeed a resident of Vinton. "I just wanted to get that verified," said the Mayor.

Sellers proceeded to share the reasons he felt that the Andrew Elwick appointment over Mark Noe was illegal.

The City Attorney explained that he felt that the council was just vetting the two candidates and would not argue the point with Sellers. The confusion comes as the council used secret ballots in the procedure, and according Sellers, the law states that all votes by the council are to be open.

The abstention vote was also discussed pointing back to January of 1984 when that was changed from being a no or blank vote to a "yes" vote.

Kurt Karr also spoke sharing three points that he thought the council would be deciding on in the meeting. "First, who gets the opportunity to shape Vinton's future. Is that opportunity open to everyone or reserved only to those who have helped shape the past. The second, how the appointment process works, and whether it is open and transparent for everyone." He further shared things that he felt were not fair in the process of appointments made by the council.

In his first point he pointed out the "Failure to publicize the open position, making sure that everyone is aware of the opportunity. Failing to openly discuss the merits of each candidate, inviting only one candidate to be present, and failure to recognize the receipt and applications of all the others."

The final thing he felt like the council would be deciding, was "whether or not our city government can be counted on to follow its own rules, and the State of Iowa, as you pledged to protect in your oath of office. So the feeling I think among many people, is that if you won't uphold your rules and the law, it's unreasonable to expect the community to do so," Karr said, also encouraging the council to take the long view and not make their decision based solely on personalities.

Following the Citizen's Input segment the council moved to other business which included an ordinance vacating an alley on R Avenue in Vinton.

The council came back to the discussion concerning the Andrew Elwick appointment and the procedure and the legality of the choice..

City Attorney Bob Fischer explained again that he felt again that it was legal. He also discussed with the council another option to fill the seat. He said that if the council did not feel comfortable with the appointment of Andrew at this time, they could hold a special election. After some discussion, City Administrator Chris Ward explained that he did have the approximate $2,800 needed for a special election budgeted as he does each year in case it is needed.

Ward also explained that even if the council did appoint Elwick, there is still a 2 week period following the appointment (from the December 30th date) that citizens could present a petition to the City Clerk for a special election. He estimated the number of signatures needed was 25. Anyone interested in the 2nd Ward would then be allowed to file papers to run as a candidate.

Tami Stark the at large council member, felt as though the council was unanimous in their desire to appoint Elwick and to avoid a special election that the council should move ahead with the appointment.

Brian Parr Council Member asked for the tally of the votes from the council at the last meeting. The full council voted on the first ballot in favor, the second ballot taken with Ron Elwick abstaining had a count of 4 yes and 2 no.

The Mayor explained that there had been two sets of write in votes, and the council had selected Lu Karr of the two, and when Karr declined the position the Auditor had instructed them that they could either appoint or hold a special election.

With the full council in agreement, the appointment was made. Correction, with Ron Elwick abstaining because there was the conflict of interest he said, "Due to the fact that it is my beloved son, I abstain."

Andrew Elwick will be sworn in at the January 9th meeting.