Barbara Ironside
The resignation of Silver Lake Trustee Barb Ironside is on the agenda of the Silver Lake Village Board meeting Wednesday.
Under president’s agenda, the item: “To Accept the Letter of Resignation from Trustee Ironside” appears.
Village President Sue Gerber said via email on Oct. 8 that the village received an email from Ironside saying she was resigning her seat. Gerber asked for a formal letter signed by Ironside to make the resignation official.
Gerber said the village received a new email late last week with a signature. Gerber said the letter will be read at the meeting and then be a public record.
The agenda for Wednesday, also under the president’s agenda section, includes a first reading of an ordinance regarding filling board vacancies.
Gerber said Tuesday, via email, that the ordinance is a reintroduction of one she attempted to get passed earlier this year. When discussed on Aug. 8, Gerber was proposing an ordinance that would fill a vacant board seat with the next highest vote getter from the last election, or to keep the seat vacant until the next election. The latest version includes “another possibility of selecting a person for a vacant seat,” Gerber said in her email to westofthei.com.
The ordinance “was created to fill vacancies in fair manner not just by popularity of the majority of the board,” Gerber said.
Filling board vacancies on the board has been controversial this year. Current village procedure calls for the president to make a suggestion for the seat and then the board to vote.
Following the April election, Soti Wilber was appointed to fill Sue Gerber’s seat when Gerber, a sitting trustee, won the village president race. Gerber recommended the next highest vote getter in the April election receive the appointment, but that idea found no support on the board and Wilber was approved by a 4 to 1 vote with Gerber voting against and Ironside abstaining, but not stating her reason for abstaining. Wilber had received the least votes of six candidates for trustee in the April election.
Then in May, Trustee David Snow announced he was resigning due to conflicts between his trustee duties and those of a new job. The village solicited letters from interested individuals and received five. One of the five, Paul Snellen, was appointed by a 4 to 2 vote in July, with Gerber and Barbara Ironside voting no.
Let’s hope the board chooses to be fair with the first reading of an ordinance regarding filling board vacancies. Or at the very least, give some fair input to how it should be written. Voters rule! Not the board!
Does anyone else see what will happen here? I’m no fortune teller, butt I see the complete collapse of the Silver Lake board in the very near future. I see the same demise of the village itself. Can we say “ghost town”?
Well, with all due respect……the current meetings are run by the “mob mentality”. Fairness and due process are concepts “the farkle faction” fails to grasp. Tonight’s meeting should be a real doozie, with the zealots in full force. Hope President Gerber has her titanium gavel polished and ready for action. Attorney Gray wil have her hands full tonight! I look forward to the circus. I might just sell popcorn and cotton candy outside the entrance. And if “voters rule”………..how does the board manage to continue appointing candidates that they feel warrant the position? The BOARD is legally responsible for fullfilling their sworn duties to manage the village business operations. The voters DO NOT.I wouldn’t miss tonight’s show for anything!!!
I also hope the Board will be fair in its decision on filling open seats. It shouldn’t be a popularity contest nor a “put my friend on the board” method. I tend to agree with the next highest voter method as it is the sensible way to fulfill the will of the residents of Silver Lake. Let’s hope this board is also SENSIBLE in its decision.
Conveniently forgotten(I haven’t!!!)in this “filling of open seats” perplexity, is the “coup” that Silver Lake Rescue ran to oust the former village President from his position and replace him with Sue Gerber. If that doesn’t qualify as “putting my friend on the board”, which she supposedly so adamantly opposes, what does? She has slammed every board member that has been appointed, apparently they don’t meet her high expectations. Under her failed leadership, the board has continued to try and do the best that they can given the circumstances. They have not let themselves get bogged down in the “petty politics” that SLRS et al have cast upon the village. Believe it or not, there ARE other issues of importance in this village besides the ambulance issues! Perhaps Sue will show some leadership and vision tonight. My bet is that she will continue to “confound the confounded”.
The board is legally responsible for fulfilling their sworn duties to manage the village business operations, as Bernie says. But they are also responsible to hear, and implement what the voters want. The voters want the new ordinance on Voter’s choice, and they also want SLR to serve them. April will show the proof, one way or another. I am all for shared service, and the dissolving of Silver Lake’s village government. We can get more bang for the tax buck with Salem Township…See you at the meeting Bernie!
While I appreciate your insight and views, I think you mistake those voters who scream and holler the loudest at the meetings as being representative of the entire community. I don’t believe that is the case at all! As for “April wil show the proof, one way or another”…….either I am correct, or you are correct..by your own admission “one way or another”. I will be at the meeting….let’s see if my prediction of a “shout fest” is spot on. So far, I’ve had a pretty good pulse on what is happening in this village, to the chargin of many. I think the board will continue to make reasonable appointments to the open seats based on sound thinking. I think they have learned to effectively “tune out” the whiners and snivellers. While they are responsible to at least listen to their constituents, they are not required to be brow beaten and lambasted by the buffoonery. I might be selling peanuts tonite as well!!!! Get there early to get a good seat@!!!
Sue has failed leadership? She cannot control the personal actions and choices that other people make. Only human after all.
Mudlsinging Sue has been a failed “leader” since she prevailed in the “coup” that Silver Lake Rescue ran to oust her predecessor. Rescue continues to “pull her strings”…she wouldn’t know an independent thought if it jumped up and slapped her in the face. She conitinues to browbeat her own board members, does not have a clue what “consensus” is, and her only agenda item is saving the rescue squad. They banked on her, and as that ship continues to sink, other village issues continue to be put on the back burner. We are fortunate that other board members have “stepped up to the plate”and try to promote an agenda that will benefit ALL of our citizens,not just the Queen and her court. The ship continues to flounder in the water. ….”me thinks we need a new Captain to guide her”
As I was almost the first one there, Bernie must be one of the board or Al, if he, (Bernie) was there…
Everyone following this and related comment threads: Since we don’t require real names for comments, we have no proof that commenter Bernard Punsley is the person you assert he is.
To where is Bernie;
It’s not me. I will sign my name and will not hide behind the name of a dead person. Probably the reason I was there first was because I was the only one to attend the budget meeting.
Sorry Alan……I was there!!!! And I am NOT dead!!!
I can not believe how infantile you people are. If you don’t like the current members of the village board, run yourself. No one want the SLP there, no one wants the SLF there, no one likes the Village Board, no one likes the guys who run the gas stations; no one likes the post master; no one likes their neighbors…etc. Silver Lake used to be a nice place, now its a town filled with homes that are not taken care of; welfare cases; foreclosed homes and a whole lot of HATERS. Move if you don’t like it. And I happen to agree that Silver Lake will be a thing of the past very soon.