It was the changing of the guards at Monday’s Bluffton council meeting. After a two-day weather delay, council met for the first time in 2014.
Gone are experienced council members Richard McGarrity and Dave Steiner, whose terms expired. Replacing them are newcomers Roger Warren and Judy Augsburger. Warren is the first council member to be elected as a write-in. Augsburger is only the third woman to ever hold a council seat.
One additional council seat was confirmed on Monday. Sean Burrell in March joined council as an appointee. He filled the seat previously held by Dennis Gallant, when Gallant became mayor.
Gallant became mayor because he was council president at the time when then-mayor Eric Fulcomer resigned upon accepting a new position in Illinois.
Gallant then ran unopposed for mayor in November. Had he lost the mayoral race against another opponent, he would have resumed his council seat given to Burrell. So, Burrell's seat was technically vacant on Monday.
In a motion by Mitch Kingsley, now the senior council member, Burrell was appointed to the vacant seat, thus completing the council’s official new arrangement.
Council now consists of:
• Mitch Kingsley
• Joe Sehlhorst
• Everett Collier
• Sean Burrell
• Roger Warren
• Judy Augsburger
Prior to the swearing in of its new members, council elected Kingsley as council president.
Council moved to change its meeting dates in 2014. This year council will meet on the first and third Mondays of the month at 8 p.m. The next meeting is Monday, Jan. 20. Prior to this year, council met on the second and fourth Mondays.
