News : Appointment stands, Gender Equality once again Ignored

Following the meeting last week, video here, the council met in a special session. According to the agenda it was to appoint a member to the VMEU (Vinton Municipal Electric Utilities) Board.

The agenda read as follows:

CITY OF VINTON

SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA

VINTON CITY HALL

DECEMBER 19, 2019 6:00 PM

1. Call to order and roll call

2. Approve appointment to VMEU Board of Trustees

3. Adjournment

The meeting began with the pledge of allegiance and Mayor Bud Maynard instructed the City Attorney, Bob Fischer to speak, which was not on the agenda.

He addressed concerns about nepotism which were raised by Council Member Nathan Hesson in last week's meeting in regard to the Mayor appointing Mike Elwick. (After the meeting last week I asked Mayor Bud Maynard, what the relationship was that was being alluded to between he and Mike Elwick. The Mayor was quick to point out that he was not an Elwick but that Mike was his wife's uncle.)

In the information that the City Attorney shared, as part of the meeting, he explained that nepotism does apply in the Elwick situation.

"In all of my years as the City Attorney, I've never had four rather unusual legal issues come to light. Actually, it was all a little more than I could handle at the time. I'm going to outline for the council what those issues were" said, Fischer.

"First of all, there was the issue of whether or not this fell into the nepotism range. The Nepotism law, of the state of Iowa (does apply) as Mike is related within the second degree of affinity to the Mayor.

The second issue, that came up was the vote based on, that statute. Because that statute is not clear, as to whether it requires a simple majority, or like resolutions and ordinances, whether it requires a majority of all the members of the board," he said.

The third issue was the status of the abstention vote. (Ron Elwick, 2nd Ward City Council Member, abstained from voting for Mike last week because they are family)." The Attorney explained that if there was a tie, the mayor couldn't vote to break the tie because he was related. 

"The fourth issue, which was correctly pointed out by Mr. Karr, that evening was our gender balance law. 

So we have all these issues going on, in the matter of about one minute when you guys voted" Ficher said. 

He went on to explain that he was only going to address the first two issues.

"First of all, it is very clear that we were going to have to comply with the nepotism law, because the mayor had recommended appointing Mike Elwick to the board, and he's related to the second affinity and it had to be approved by the council.

We did vote on that, it was a 3 to 2 vote, that was the recorded vote with an abstention by Ron Elwick."

The attorney talked to the Council for the League of Cities, who explained to the attorney that they just needed a simple majority vote. With the 3-2 vote, the council made the decision.

After more inquiry, the attorney discovered that the status of the abstention vote is considered a  "blank" vote according to Robert's Rules of Order. 

HOWEVER, there is an exception.

"In the city procedure, an abstention vote is considered a "Yes" vote. So in fact, we had a 4-2 vote at the last council meeting. So because that vote was collected, that vote does stand," the attorney explained.

"So it's gonna stand," said the attorney. "The fourth issue, (gender balance) I'm not going to address tonight because it's not on the agenda. However, the Mayor has assured me that it will be addressed in the very near future. "

The Mayor clarified, "So, nepotism, there was none, right? Because the council voted on it. Correct?" to which the attorney replied, "That is correct. It did fall within the nepotism statute but it was approved by the council."

The appointment of Mike Elwick to the VMEU Board does stand.

The Mayor stated, "I will assure everyone in this room, that I will address this gender balance equality thing. We're gonna work on it in the council, and with the legal thing and we will have it addressed. Bob (the attorney) and I talked about this at length and I will be addressing the VMEU Board on how we're gonna be able to resolve it. But I want the entire council involved in that discussion before we move forward, that way we're all in agreement in how things happen. This is a wrong that Kurt (Karr) has brought up. I will agree I admittedly not maliciously, not intentionally, have tried to bequeath the law, not once. But I will rectify it so it's not going to be an issue in the future." 

With that, the mayor adjourned the meeting without any discussion allowed by the council or those in attendance.

Editor's Note:

Following the meeting, when I asked why the Gender Balance issue was not addressed, the attorney reiterated that it was not on the agenda, although this reporter will note that the other issues addressed were also not on the agenda.