By Tim Cox
tcox@dailystandard.com The village of Mendon is faced with numerous vacancies on its village council and zoning board, and remaining village leaders hope some citizens will step forward to help the town.
"Right now we're looking, advertising for people who are interested," Mayor William Buffenbarger said.
The town is facing two vacant seats on village council and two more on its zoning board.
In January, council will have only four of six seats filled after two of four council members up for re-election this year chose not to run. That included council President Roy "Butch" Davis, who decided not to run after many years in office.
Only Janice Clay and Terry Seibert sought re-election, and they were unopposed with no other candidates on the ballot. Seibert and Clay are joined on council by April Grunden -- appointed to fill a vacancy earlier this year -- and Mike Bowling.
Council will have 30 days after Jan. 1 to fill the vacancies or else the responsibility will fall to Buffenbarger.
"It's getting harder to find people with the time to serve," Buffenbarger said.
Mendon has only about 800 residents from which to draw 20-plus public posts.
The town's five-member zoning board has been short-staffed almost since its inception. Council members are paid, but zoning board members perform their duties with no compensation.
A couple of controversial issues have led to prior resignations and current zoning board member Bowling is serving triple-duty. He serves on council, on the zoning board and has been reluctantly serving as zoning inspector since that job opened up last year.
It is Buffenbarger's job to appoint zoning board members, which he would do, if he could find any. It is difficult finding people who understand the issue or who are willing to learn about it, the mayor said. In exchange for their public service, zoning board members attend regular meetings, which sometimes grow heated, and receive no pay for it.
"You have to be willing to serve," said Buffenbarger, adding that he hopes to still be serving the community "when I am 60."
The town also had a seat open on its Board of Public Affairs, but that vacancy recently was filled by the appointment of Amy Dudgeon. |
