"O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!" Walter Scott

Vinton City politics is currently embroiled in a controversy because the Mayor has blatantly violated Iowa's Gender Balance law with his recent appointment to the VMEU board. I agree with those who have challenged the appointment, but after my years of living in Vinton, I shouldn't be surprised it happened because the City has a long history of choosing enforcement of laws that are contrary to their desires.

I have a bigger concern and it is the sole cause of why Vinton has been placed in this position. My concern is nepotism. The whole reason we are down this path is that the Mayor chose to fill an unadvertised board opening with his uncle, even though there were qualified female applicants who were able to wade through the murkiness of deception and submit their credentials. The Mayor's refusal to abide by Iowa law in favor of his uncle put the process within the realms of Iowa's nepotism law. It sounds like his justification for disregarding the law in favor of family was the fact that the City Attorney advised he could continue with his intended appointment as long as his uncle's appointment was approved by the City Council. Sounds fishy to me. Maybe not illegal but certainly, by many perspectives, unwise and unethical.

Now we have reached my key point. The council meeting held on December 12th actually had two cases where the proceedings fell under Iowa's nepotism law: The Mayor's and Ron Elwick's. Ron Elwick was faced with two votes where he clearly had a conflict of interest. The first was the appointment of his son to take his place on the council and the second was the appointment of another relative to the VMEU board. In fact, the City Attorney even advised that "things were different than a regular election" when the council voted to fill the empty positions and instructed Ron Elwick he had to abstain in both votes. The results on December 12th were Andrew Elwick's appointment was approved on a second vote (even though the official tally was not announced, only that Andrew won) and Mike Elwick's appointment was tabled because there was a question of how many votes were really needed.

Fast forward to December 19th. A special meeting was held to approve the appointment to the VMEU board. I think everybody who had been following this fiasco was expecting the Mayor to recognize his mistakes and to correct it with the appointment of the qualified woman who applied. Boy where we fooled! The meeting starts and the City Attorney proceeds to say that he was going to address three of the four questions raised in the last meeting. Those were: nepotism, whether a simple majority or a majority of all members was required, and the status of an abstention vote. The fourth item, gender balance and the Mayor's clear violation of Iowa law were not even going to be discussed.

Here are the answers. Yes, it fell under the nepotism law. Only a simple majority is required. By City rule, an abstention vote counts as a "yes." The official vote was 4 to 2 in favor of Mike Elwick. The vote stands. Nothing more. No new nomination. No new vote. No discussion. Nothing. Zip Zilch Nada. Uncle Mike keeps his spot on the board.

I have served on the school board for 7 years as well as having been involved in many other organizations where Robert's Rules of Order are followed. WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DOES VINTON CONSIDER AN ABSTENTION VOTE AS A "YES?!" It even seemed that the City Attorney was surprised by this because he is the one who told Ron Elwick he had to abstain. The official, recorded vote was 4 - 2 in favor of Mike Elwick. Ron Elwick was still able to vote for his relative and keep the Elwick family in power even though everyone thought his vote wouldn't count.

Now you may be saying it doesn't matter because all they needed was a simple majority and if Ron's vote didn't count, it would still be 3 to 2 in favor of Team Elwick. Well, I contend you can't have it both ways. By City procedure rules, Ron Elwick's vote DID count. All abstentions count as a "yes." The City Attorney even stated the recorded vote will be 4 - 2 in favor of Mike Elwick. I have a question, how is a person with a clear conflict of interest on the Vinton City Council supposed to vote? An abstention counts as a yes, not a blank vote. Is that council member with the conflict of interest complicit in illegal activity because the City rules say he voted yes when he thought he didn't vote at all?

I contend that based on the City procedures as outlined by the City Attorney, the only vote for a person on the Vinton City Council with a defined conflict of interest must be a "no" or in opposition of the object causing the conflict My reasoning is this. If the City recognizes an abstention as a "yes" vote, there is no way to ever have a blank vote. If the rules say no blank votes, there can never be a 3-2 vote on anything when all six council members are present. In my opinion, to be in compliance with Iowa's nepotism law under Vinton's city meeting procedure laws, Ron Elwick must vote "no", rejecting the appointment of Mike Elwick to the VMEU board. Just in case you are thinking they will just go back and re-vote, remember Andrew Elwick took his dad's spot on the council, keeping the nepotism card in play.

I, for the life of me, can't think of a single rational reason the City chose to contradict Robert's Rules of Order and count an abstention as a "yes." I would love someone to explain it to me. Based on current rules, it is entirely possible for all council members to abstain from a vote and it would pass. Oh, it will never happen, you say. Well, the City Attorney never had in his career this many issues come up in a less than a minute, but he did. Things happen. Let's fix it now that we know it is broken. Change the City procedures to match Robert's Rule of Orders, treating an abstention as it should, a blank vote.

I believe that the Vinton City Council has violated two Iowa laws: gender balance and nepotism. Are we, the citizens, going to sit back and let it happen or are we going to do something about it?

Darran Sellers


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