Council balks at mayor's decision to appoint
- Roger Sims, Journal Staff
- Nov 13
- 4 min read
By Roger Sims
PLEASANTON – Pleasanton City Attorney Jacklyn Paletta’s instructions to the Pleasanton City Council were clear: According to state statute, the three remaining council members must either approve Mayor Mathew Young’s appointment of Alex Wills to the council or they must vote to pass a resolution that Wills was unfit or unqualified to serve in that capacity.
However, Council Members Aaron Portman, Rochelle Schreckhise and Bill Skipper did not like either of those options. And the wait as the council silently weighed their choices was long and no doubt nerve wracking for Wills, who was seated in the audience.
With the unofficial results from the Nov. 4 election in, the mayor wasted no time on Monday, Nov. 10, to make an appointment to fill the Pleasanton City Council seat left vacant by the untimely death of Angie Randall. It was an appointment that needed to be made within 45 days of Randall’s death, and the decision could not wait until the council’s Nov. 14 meeting, which would be after the Linn County Commission canvassed the vote and approved the totals.
Young’s reasoning was clear. Wills had filed in June to run for one of three open council seats, and since he came in fourth in votes received, he should be the one to take the vacant seat.
Incumbent Schreckhise, with 107 votes, clearly had retained her seat. Portmann had not filed for reelection and the council had not filled the seat held by Kimberly Herring, who quit her post last summer.
In addition to Schreckhise, candidate Kenny Stark received 74 votes and Sandra Haynes received 72 votes, making them the likely winners in the contest that had seven names on the ballot.
However, the three council members wanted to see the official results of the canvass by the Linn County Commission scheduled for Nov. 17 before making a decision.
To complicate the issue, Portmann had mounted a write-in campaign for reelection and unofficially received 58 votes.
In order for Portmann to take Randall’s seat, he would have to resign his post first, but it would still be up to the mayor to make the appointment. Young and Portmann have disagreed on several major issues since Young took office last January, and for him to appoint Portmann would be unlikely. Portmann’s resignation would also leave the council without a quorum to vote on Randall’s replacement.
“At this point we either need the consent of council or motion for a resolution finding that the appointee is unqualified or unfit to hold the office,” Paletta said as the impasse dragged on.
Schreckhise pointed out that it was a tie between Portmann and Wills, but Paletta said that it wasn’t a tie. She added that the election was for the three vacant seats and not for the seat left vacant by Randall’s death.
Paletta again reminded the council of what it is statutorily obligated to do.
“I can’t say that I can find anything that would say that Alex is unqualified or unfit for the office,” Skipper said.
“Unless we can find just cause for him not being qualified, we don’t have much recourse,” Skipper added.
Finally, Skipper said, “My desire is we do the wishes of the people, which means I’d like to see what the canvass results are, but the rules say that we approve or show just cause why he is unfit for office, so I guess I call for question.”
The vote to approve Wills to complete the two years remaining on Randall’s term was unanimous, and moments later, Wills was being sworn in by John Purvis, municipal court judge.
Also on the agenda was consideration of an ordinance that would give the police chief the authority to hire police officers with the approval of the council, a procedure that would block the appointments by the mayor.
It is an ordinance similar to the one the council asked to be drawn up a couple months ago in an effort to have the fire chief choose firefighter applicants with the council’s approval. That measure was vetoed by the mayor with the supporting opinion of Paletta who said that the council did not have sufficient numbers to overturn a veto. In a subsequent meeting, the attorney backed off that decision, and the council voted to override the veto.
However, in the public comment section of Monday’s meeting, David Schuermann asked the council to vote against an ordinance that would strip the mayor of power to appoint police officers. He said the police chief should have input into who was hired, but it should remain within the mayor’s power to make the appointments.
Later in the meeting when it was time to discuss the ordinance, the city attorney told the council that the power to make those appointments was given to the mayor by state statute. In order for the council to proceed with the ordinances, it would first have to pass an ordinance invoking home rule.
That would require a two-week publication of the ordinance in the official newspaper. The council opted not to discuss the issue further on Monday.
Also on Monday, the council:
• Heard a complaint from resident Chloe Allison about conditions on neighboring properties that contributed unsanitary conditions and odors so strong at times that her children couldn’t go outside. She cited numerous animals on one of the properties and conditions favorable to breeding insects. Young said the city should look into it, but Paletta reminded the council it should follow city codes procedures to address the problem. If due process guidelines weren’t followed, the city would need to restart the process to make sure they were.
• Approved Fire Chief Jeff Wisdom’s request to appoint Joshua Marshall as a firefighter. In his first vote as a councilman, Wills voted along with the rest of the council, to approve the appointment. Wisdom also reported that the fire department personnel were going over the ISO report thoroughly and looking at making changes to keep the city’s ISO rating at 5.
• Approved taking bids to replace the roof of the water plant building.
• Discussed the hiring of two part-time employees, workers that council members didn’t recall approving.