Appointment delayed

The question of who will be appointed to the vacant mayoral position on the Saratoga Town Council remains unanswered following the rescheduled November 4 meeting.

With six meetings having elapsed since the resignation of former mayor John Zeiger and three meetings remaining until the end of the calendar year, continued discussion and the potential appointment have been pushed back until the November 17 meeting of the governing body.

As was reported previously (see “Saratoga plans for filling vacancy” on page 2 of the September 23 Saratoga Sun), the Saratoga Town Council had unanimously voted to move their regularly scheduled meeting from November 3 to November 4 to solicit input from the two successful council candidates. That decision came following recommendations from Councilmember Jon Nelson in two separate meetings to wait until after the general election.

Creed James, one of the two successful candidates, was in attendance. Ben Spaulding, the other successful candidate, participated in the conversation by phone. Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Keel began the discussion with his thoughts before opening the floor to both the current council and the two candidates.

“My thoughts are; I have had the opportunity to see what it takes to be mayor and it’s not necessarily the funnest thing in the world and it’s opened my eyes to the process of town government and it’s been a good experience for me,” said Keel. “I do think that, by appointing a new mayor sooner than later does a couple things for the Town. One, it gives a direction. So, some of these decisions that are being made, some of the directions that are being made for the Town, can be something that the new appointed mayor could help with. It gets another sitting town council person on this council and I think there’s a lot of value to that extra voice, to that extra perspective.”

Councilmember Judy Welton, citing an article in the Saratoga Sun (see “Council candidates questioned” on page 1 of the October 21 Saratoga Sun), asked if both James and Spaulding were still of the opinion that the appointment should come from the sitting council, adding that she believed the appointment should be an elected council member. 

“I don’t know that they’ve stated that it needs to be from the current council. I would leave that up to Mr. Spaulding and Mr. James to answer for themselves,” replied Councilmember Jon Nelson.

During the Valley Service Organization’s October 12 forum, James stated that he believed the appointment should come from the sitting council while Spaulding stated that he believed the appointment should be done before the first of the new year. Between the forum and the November 4 meeting, it appeared that both candidates had put additional thought into those stances.

“I think the one thing that should be, maybe, afforded to Ben and I is a chance to have conversations with everyone on the sitting council. We just found out last night who was elected,” said James. “I know Councilman Nelson has said he’s not interested. You (Keel) have said in a public meeting that, to be honest, you don’t want to be mayor either. I think, in a perfect world, like Judy said, it should be an elected position. Given the current council that’s sitting right now, it’d be tough to do if you don’t want to be mayor and Jon doesn’t want to be mayor.” 

Keel responded to James, stating that he had previously stated he did not want to “force myself into the mayor seat of a divided council.” In the August 18 meeting in which Zeiger’s resignation letter was accepted by the governing body (see “Splitting the council” on page 5 of the August 26 Saratoga Sun), Keel had stated that, while he didn’t want to be mayor, he believed he had the ability to unify the council. Additionally, during the September 1 meeting (see “Mayor seat still vacant” on page 9 of the September 9 Saratoga Sun), Keel had stated “I have no interest in being the mayor of a council that is divided” but that he’d be willing to serve either as mayor or as a council member.

“I kind of think anybody would have to be a little crazy to come and be mayor of this council right now but I do have some rapport with some town hall employees. I do have, albeit, three months of experience being mayor pro-tem,” Keel said. “So, if it is the council’s wish, I would do it. Am I going to come out and campaign and try my hardest to become mayor? No. That’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to represent the people of Saratoga and if it’s as mayor, great. If it’s a town council person, great.”

As discussion continued, Spaulding not only backed James’ request for time to talk with current council members but implied that he would be open to filling the mayoral vacancy in January. Keel responded by stating he believed it was the responsibility of the current council to appoint the mayor, adding that he believed continuing with a vacancy would hinder progress for the governing body. Spaulding then asked if the vacancy would continue into the new year if votes went 2-2 on the appointment.

“Unless we come to an agreement with Mr. James, yourself and this current council that the direction that we want to move forward can be done with this current council,” Keel replied. “If not, yeah, it would have to wait until January 1.”

The discussion over whether to appoint from the current council or upcoming council saw Welton state that she had no interest in serving as mayor, but that she believed it was important to get someone on the council. Councilmember D’Ron Campbell, when asked by Welton, stated she would be open to serving if the council asked her.

“I think I’ve heard one thing tonight from two people, which is that there hasn’t been enough time since they’ve been elected to make a decision. What I’d like to add, from my perspective, is that we not limit the conversation and the discussion and the potential mayoral candidates to myself and Mr. Keel,” Nelson said. “I think that both Ben and Creed and D’Ron should be part of that pool as well.” 

Keel then proposed that both Spaulding and James be given two weeks to meet with current council members. 

“I would like some resolution on this. I would like to know. If it’s not me, I will leave a lot of these decisions for the next mayor. If it is going to be me, then I can move forward with a lot of these things,” said Keel. “I’m not looking to sway anybody’s vote, I’m not trying to politic or campaign for anything. You guys have seen, in a couple months, what I can do.”

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 7 p.m. on November 17 at Saratoga Town Hall.