At the end of Monday’s City Council meeting, ward one councilor Elaine Starmer resigned her seat effective at the end of tonight’s meeting.
“In a brief statement Starmer stated, ” Recent events have made it clear to me that I am no longer a good fit for this council.”
“We were shocked.” said Ward two councilor Riley Hoagland.
“I’m disappointed.” added Mayor Susan Wahlke.
City charter allows the council to decide if they will either appoint someone or hold a special election to fill the vacant seat.
The next scheduled city council meeting will be March 27th at 6p.m.
Her ward deserves an election. Or at least offering the position to the runner up
in the election that placed her.
Without more of an explanation, one is left to speculate about the departure,
I haven’t been to a city council meeting for some time now, we attended them
for our own reasons, but after a number of them, one gets an impression of
the council’s operation. I noticed that there was typically 1 dissenting vote,
no matter what the subject was, either members did their research before
the meeting, or didn’t bother to ask questions. I’m glad we went to meetings,
it is interesting at times. Maybe when I have another dog issue I’ll be back:)
Riley Hoagan may be the reason for her resignation. He should have resigned for his vandalism…
No single person in City Hall is responsible for my decision. I would love to tell you the reasons for my resignation, but doing so would violate the confidentiality requirements of executive sessions. Yeah, sounds weak, but it is the truth.
I worked hard and was committed to bringing positive change. But you can’t sacrifice your values in the process.
The corruption has intoxicated the council. You did the right thing and would like you
to run for Mayor.
It’s going to take more than that to get my vote. In my opinion, Riley was the one of the few people who did ask questions. Some vague comment about “vandalism” is going to need some fleshing out. Besides that, one would expect
a candidate for any office to have some idea how things work in the city. I agree,
bailing out after a couple months is kinda weak.