Opinion : Letter to the Editor: VMEU board vacancies and appointments

Dear Editor:
I understand that there are now two vacancies on the VMEU Board of Trustees, so I have written to Mayor Maynard to urge him to appoint Amy Edison to one of those seats. Ms Edison previously applied to serve on the board and is not only qualified to do so, but she brings unique actuarial expertise to the table.

Over the course of several meetings this past fall and winter, I watched as the mayor and council moved to (re)appoint someone to the board contrary to state nepotism and gender balance laws. The council should be commended for ultimately reversing that decision and committing to review city policies and procedures to ensure compliance with relevant state laws.

It would appear, however, that the city was already aware of the gender balance law prior to this past fall, as demonstrated by the following statement on the Application Form for City Board/Commission (retrieved from https://cityofvinton.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/APPLICATION-FORM-FOR-BOARDS-COMMISSIONS.pdf
"State law requires political subdivisions to make a good faith effort to balance most appointive boards, commissions, committees, and councils according to gender by January 1, 2012, and each year thereafter."

The document properties indicate that the PDF was created on 24 March 2018-and one can infer from the URL that it was added to the city website that same month-so I find it difficult to fathom how the mayor and council could not have been aware of the gender balance law before a fellow citizen pointed it out. Nevertheless, I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Indeed, I commend the mayor for firmly stating that the city would address gender balance in future appointments.

Following one of the aforementioned meetings, I witnessed the mayor himself tell Ms Edison that he hoped she would consider serving on the board in the future because she could provide valuable input. He now has an opportunity to make that possible by appointing her.

Finally, I am aware that the VMEU board has asked Ms Edison to do research on a volunteer basis for one of its projects. This is a clear vote of confidence from the very board that she seeks to serve on, and it provides a further compelling reason to appoint her. I implore the mayor to do so.
Soren M Peterson