• Read statement by Joe Sehlhorst
  attached at bottom of story
• Failed ordinance also attached

In a totally unexpected move, on Monday four members of Bluffton council voted to repeal the water and sewer surcharge that it enacted in the spring of 2016.

The legislation was not part of the original council packet, made available to the media, earlier in the week. It was added later and not released to the media in advance.

The action was taken by emergency, meaning that it would take effect immediately, if passed. However, two no votes stopped the emergency repeal from taking place.

Should the repeal effort take place in the “non-emergency” fashion it would require three readings. Only two regular council meetings are scheduled for the remainder of 2017.  Three of the four “repeal” votes came from council members whose terms expire on Dec. 31.

Voting to approve the repeal by emergency were Roger Warren, Ralph Miller, Sean Burrell and Richard Johnson. Voting against approving the repeal by emergency were Phill Talavinia and Joe Sehlhorst.

Roger Warren said that it was clear what the residents of the village wanted because those who supported the repeal were elected and those who supported the surcharge weren’t.

He added that he was interested in seeing what happens, implying that if it’s a mess he won’t have to deal with it.

Three council candidates campaigned on the surcharge repeal. They were Jerry Cupples, Mitch Kingsley and David Steiner. Those three candidates won handily in the Nov. 7 election.

Three council incumbents who voted in the surcharge were Warren, Miller and Burrell. Those three lost their seats in the Nov. 7 election.

Several issues in November’s council election were apparent, causing the change in three council seats. One of those issues was the water and sewer surcharge. Others included the firing of Jami Mehaffie, village administrator, and the resignation of Nancy Kindle, village fiscal officer.

Sehlhorst provided a statement to the Icon concerning his views on the proposed repeal. Sehlhorst said that he first learned about the proposed surcharge repeal on Friday, Nov. 10.