Council has 30 days to fill vacant seat

By Megan Kelley
Review Writer
LAKE ORION — During its meeting on Monday, the Lake Orion Village Council discussed and reviewed the steps forward in filling the recent council vacancy.
The council also voted to officially accept the resignation of former councilmember Sarah Luchsinger.
This comes two weeks after Luchsinger resigned her seat on the council, announcing her resignation at the council’s May 8 meeting. Luchsinger cited bad faith among council members and her own personal health as reasons for her resignation.
Luchsinger resigned during her closing comments at the meeting and sent an official letter of resignation to the village clerk on May 11.
According to village Manager Darwin McClary, the process for filling a vacated council seat, as required by village charter, is simply that the council must elect someone who is qualified to fill the seat within 30 days of accepting the resignation.
This gives the council until June 21 to find a replacement for the seat.
Anyone interested in applying for the position can do so now by filling out the Boards and Commissions Application available on the village website, lakeorion.org under the “Document Center” tab.
Forms can also be requested at Village Hall, 21 E. Church St. Village Hall is open 7 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday – Thursday.
Anyone interested in applying for the council must be of legal age, is a registered voter in the village, is an owner of real property assessed for village taxes or is the spouse of someone who does, and has been a resident of the village for at least two years.
Anyone who is in default to the village or has been convicted of a felony is not eligible for elected office in the village.
Given this relatively short window of time, most of the council found it important to allow as much time as possible for residents to apply for the vacancy.
“I think everyone would like to have as much time to apply,” said President Jerry Narsh. “And my suggestion is that every member of council get those applications and we’re afforded the opportunity to review them equally.”
After a lengthy discussion on the timeline, the council voted to approve a timeline as follows: applications will be due on June 7 with interviews taking place on June 8. If the number of applicants does not allow for all interviews to take place on June 8, the council will then hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. on June 12, before its regularly scheduled meeting to finish interviewing applicants.
Interviews are likely to be roughly 20 minutes long and interview questions will not be published prior to interviews.