By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
The Bronson Town Council meeting was cancelled at the last minute Monday evening when the town clerk was informed that Mayor Bruce Greenlee was sick and Councilwoman Katie Parks would be out of state visiting a sick family member.
Bronson Council members don’t meet in October and this meeting would have been their first chance to catch up on the town’s business in more than a month, but the cancellation means the town council won’t convene again until the third week of November.
“Everything we had on the agenda required a thoughtful vote,” said Clerk Shirley Miller. “It’s not something we want to discuss with three members.”
Three members constitute a quorum for voting purposes. The council could have legally voted on any issue without the missing members.
Miller said Town Attorney Steven Warm was consulted and Warm agreed, cancelling the meeting was legal. Miller said Warm might have had some difficulty making the meeting, too.
She said the sensitive issues on the agenda were the proposed hiring of Paul Anderson as a grant volunteer program manager and the hiring of part-time sewer and water administrative clerk.
Anderson’s salary and benefits of $39,520 would be paid with a grant for four years.
Miller said the town will have to “double up” on the agenda items when it meets again later this month, meaning all the leftover agenda items will be added to what is normally discussed.
Miller said a second issue arose Monday when elections office delivered voting machines to the meeting room in advance of the council meeting. She said that problem was resolved when town staff moved the voting equipment to the hallway outside the council meeting room. With the equipment out of the way, it wouldn’t have interfered with the council meeting.
She said the elections office was told to wait until after the council meeting to deliver the elections equipment, but she said “they had a problem with that.” She wasn’t sure which town staff member opened the door to allow the elections equipment to be brought into the council meeting room.
Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones said her office was never contacted about the need to deliver voting equipment after the council meeting. Jones said all the voting equipment is locked in a secure container. She said the town’s decision to relocate the voting equipment to a hallway outside the meeting room isn’t a problem. She said there is secure wrapping on the container that would reveal if anyone attempted to open it.
Town of Bronson Regular Meeting Cancelation November 5, 2018
Posted November 5, 2018
