On Monday, March 8 about 6 percent of Ortonville voters went to the polls and elected Tom Peters with 49 votes; Kay Green, 43 votes; and Harold Batten 30 votes. Bob Flath lost the election with 29 votes.
Council incumbent Gina Joy Roemer was elected to a two-year term with 38 votes to complete the four-year term of Carrie Fenton, who resigned in June 2003.
March 15, Roemer announced she would resign her council seat due to relocation from the Ortonville Village limits. On that same day, Roemer nominated Ortonville resident Larry Hayden to fill her vacated post.
Hayden, 45, a former village council member in the early 1990s, resigned his council post after finding the seat, says Hayden, ‘too demanding? of his time.
Hayden added that since then, his job has changed in addition to completing his college degree so now he has time to serve effectively on the council. So, when his neighbor Roemer asked him to fill her vacancy on the village council he figured ‘here’s an opportunity.?
Hayden would essentially obtain a council seat without a single resident casting a ballot. According to the village charter, if a candidate meets the qualifications for the seat, then the village council is within its legal rights to appoint that applicant.
Meanwhile Flath, 67, who previously served four years as Brandon Township trustee and two years on the Ortonville Planning Commission, is passed over after losing the 2004 village election by only one vote.
Flath entered the race in November 2003 with the intent to serve. Hayden says at that time he was trying to finish college and felt ‘no need to throw his hat in the ring.?
Ortonville Village Council members face two choices in an effort to replace Roemer: First, to follow the letter of the law and appoint a member who ‘they? feel is most qualified, or to follow the wishes of the people and offer the appointment to Flath.
Based on experience, there’s little debate that each candidate is qualified for the demanding post. However, it would seem reasonable that if Flath desires the seat the voters have clearly spoken vis-?-vis the ballot box. Moreover, Flath, took the initiative to enter the race in November; Hayden for his own reasons had an equal opportunity but chose to stay out.
Our nation upholds a Democratic system which provides for popular elections for a reason’to let the people decide who will govern.
They have.