(Spirit Lake)—The Spirit Lake city council voted unanimously last (Tues.) evening in favor of a resolution stating its intent to fill a vacancy on the council by appointment. The council plans to make the appointment at its next regular meeting April 23rd. Under Iowa law, the council has 40 days from the date of when the vacancy was created in which to make the appointment. The person appointed to fill the vacancy would do so until the November election, at which they would have the opportunity to seek a full term. Likewise, any resident opposed to the council appointing someone to fill the vacancy could petition for a special election.
Councilman Clyde Ihrke summed up the council’s concensus to appoint someone to the vacancy…(click here for comment.) “I think this is going to be the best way to go, if we adopt the, if we appoint somebody instead of trying to set up an election which is going to cost more money and take more time. This way we get somebody on board, we’ve had some interested people already.”
The vacancy was created last month when councilman Steve Balm abruptly announced he was stepping down.
In other business, the council also expressed a willingness to work with the city of Orleans on a project to re-build Pioneer Beach Road. The two cities share jurisdiction over the road. The city of Spirit Lake hadn’t planned to do anything with it for another three to five years. But councilman Kevin Bice said it makes sense to do the project now…(click here for comment). “I think if we don’t act upon it at this present time that when we do tend to do it it could be anywhere from a three to five year period, we could be spending quite a bit more than what we’re having offered for our part of it at this present time, so…”
The city of Orleans has expressed interest in working with Spirit Lake officials on bridge financing for the project.
