Still no village council president, pres. pro-tem
By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council had its first meeting since the Nov. 8 midterm election on Monday, welcoming two new councilmembers, Nancy Mosier and Carl Cyrowski, and swearing in the other two top vote getters Theresa Rutt and Ken Van Portfliet.
Van Portfliet received the fourth highest number of votes, enough for another two years on the council while Rutt, Mosier and Cyrowski earned the top three number of votes, earning them a four year term.
Cyrowski was absent from the meeting.
On the docket for the meeting was the election of council president and president pro tem.
Initially, Council Members Jerry Narsh and Van Portfliet moved to postpone the election until Cyrowski could be present for the vote but legal council informed the board that they should at least try.
The division among the council was clear almost immediately as Councilmember Michael Lamb, Sarah Luchsinger and Mosier all nominated themselves for president while Rutt nominated Narsh. The council then voted twice with Narsh voting for himself and getting two other votes from Van Portfliet and Rutt.
Lamb voted for himself and got votes from Luchsinger and Mosier, ensuring a deadlock.
Without Cyrowski present, the vote was likely to remain tied, causing the council to move on to a vote on president pro-tem.
President Pro-Tem is essentially vice-president of the council, with no official duties except to run meetings in case the council president is absent.
Lamb nominated Luchsinger while Van Portfliet nominated Rutt.
The votes fell exactly the same way, with Rutt receiving votes from herself, Narsh and Van Protfliet and Luchsinger getting the votes from herself, Mosier and Lamb.
With another stalemate, the council voted to appoint Narsh to be the chairperson of the meeting, a temporary role, until the council can convene again with everyone present and take another vote.
The Lake Orion Village Council is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28 in Council Chambers at Village Hall, 21 E. Church St.
Meetings are live-streamed at www.orionontv.org.
LO Village council at a stalemate on council leaders vote added by mmkelley on
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Yes, the division on the new council was clearly evident and it was odd that a newly elected member was not present at his very first meeting. It was also welcomed to see members of the council challenging the unsubstantiated opinions of the village attorney and prevailing as the attorney was not correct. This gives me hope that the new council will be thinking for themselves and representing the public instead of blindly doing whatever they are told or whatever was done in the past.