Buhl council sets special meeting to interview candidates for vacant seat

According to Buhl officials, the four people who have applied are former Councilor John Markas, along with Renee Loeffler, Taunya Erickson and Taryn Burnett.

At the first council meeting in January, the council voted to post for the position in hopes of finding a candidate and appointing that person at the Jan. 17 meeting.

That didn’t happen Tuesday, as Councilor Denise Kealy made a motion to table, which eventually passed unanimously.

“I’d like to table it to the next meeting and in the meantime we’ll talk,” Kealy said after making her motion.

At that point City Attorney Mike Kearney explained to the council that if they wanted to interview candidates that would have to be a separate motion.

That particular motion was eventually made after another lengthy discussion amongst the councilors on how and when to do the interviews—a discussion that included input from one of the residents in attendance, former multi-time councilor and mayor Shari Swanson.

Swanson was appointed to two boards Tuesday previous to the vacancy agenda item discussion—Planning and Zoning and the Buhl Economic Development Authority (BEDA).

During discussion on the special meeting, Kealy explained her rationale behind the delay.

“I know how they’ve done it in the past they’ve picked the one that has the most experience, and then we have three without experience, so I’d like to get to know more about the three that don’t have any experience with the council but have a good background,” Kealy said.

According to information found on the Minnesota Secretary of State website, Markas, one of two incumbents who lost in November, was the third highest vote-getter in the general election, capturing 21.7% of the vote, or 178 votes. Kealy and newcomer Randy Towner each received 246 votes, or 30%.

Loeffler was one of nine candidates running for council during the primary in August, where she finished 5th with 59 votes. Markas tied for second in the primary, garnering 80 votes, to earn his spot on the November ballot.

The council eventually voted to hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 31 to have a conversation with the candidates with a goal to appoint one of them at the next regular meeting on Feb. 7 .

That date was later changed to Jan. 26, with a meeting time of 6 p.m.

In other business, the council:

• Appointed Markas to the Planning and Zoning Board and BEDA, and Cheryl Smilanich to the Library Board.