New City Council Member for Stayton- Maybe!

Councilors present: Scott Vigil, Steve Frank, Mayor Virginia Honeywell, Don Walters and Tim Grimes.

(STAYTON, Ore.) - The first order of business at this week's Stayton City Council meeting was the appointment of Jack Fiske to the vacant city council seat. This seat became available last month when Don Koenig resigned for health reasons.

The mayor asked for a vote from the council members in support of her appointment. Councilors Vigil and Walters voted yes, councilors Frank and Grimes voted no... The mayor broke the tie vote by voting for his appointment. Councilor Grimes asked for the question on the motion but the mayor denied it.

It should be noted that this is the second time that the mayor has appointed Mr. Fiske to the council seat. The first time she could not get him seated as there was a majority including Don Koenig that would not accept the appointment. It should also be noted that Mr. Fiske had announced in March that he is running for the position of mayor this fall.

Mayor Honeywell has indicated that she will not seek re-election. Mr. Fiske was then asked by the mayor to come down front to be sworn in by the Interim City Administrator Don Eubanks. Councilor Fiske then took his seat at the council table with the other councilors.

Later in the council meeting Councilor Grimes pointed out that the city charter that he held in his hands does not allow the appointment of a councilor in the manner in which it was done at this meeting. He pointed out that nowhere in the city charter does it say the mayor has a tie vote right when it comes to appointments of city councilors to fill vacant seats.

He indicated that the charter says it must be a majority of the seated, present councilors. He deferred the question to the city attorney. The attorney said he did not know for sure, but asked councilor Grimes if in his reading of the city charter, was there any language to also prevent the mayor from doing this. Councilor Grimes said he did not see any language like that. The Attorney then suggested that it might be allowable. Councilors Grimes, Walters and Frank then asked the city attorney for a "White Paper" ruling to be presented as soon as possible on the issue. For the time being, Mr. Fiske is the newly appointed councilor.

Interim City Administrator, Don Eubanks, made a presentation to the city council with regards to the request for cable access by this reporter, Ken Cartwright. Noting that this has been pursued for a long time, a presentation to the city council back in March of 2008.

After reading a letter from a city attorney addressing the issue of PEG or community access television, it was suggested that the city first agree to form a community access advisory committee. It would be up to the mayor to appoint a committee chairperson to get the proceedings underway, and then it would be up to the access committee to appoint a permanent chairperson to lead the group.

A motion was made by Councilor Fiske to allow the mayor to form allow the formation of a community access advisory committee. It was seconded and passed 5-0 in favor.

Councilor Frank then asked if the evenings council meeting was being videotaped and by whom. City administrator Mr. Eubanks said that he thought it was and it was being done by Ken Cartwright. Mr. Frank then asked this reporter to comment on why it was being video taped. It was explained that this was a historical moment in the formation of community television and it would serve the historical process later after the formation of the group to have some historical archives to show viewers the formation process.

It was also pointed out that the camera was for news, should any happen that evening.

And finally in city council news, Councilor Frank wanted to go on record saying that the news article in the Canyon Advertiser about the city council work session involving the selection of candidates for permanent city administrator, written by Ken Cartwright, was inaccurate.

He felt that if anyone wanted to hear what really was said at that meeting that they request to listen to the city recorders audio recording of that event. He would not say specifically what was inaccurate during the council meeting, but was concerned that it could give the public the wrong impression of what goes on at these meetings if you only read the Canyon Advertiser story.... For the record, I was not invited to address the council about Mr. Franks' comments during the meeting.

After the meeting I met with Councilor Frank and offered to get a copy of the recording from the city recorder and make it available for air play. Mr. Frank said he didn't care if I did or didn't do that, he just wanted me to know that after listening to the city tape, some things did not happen the way I reported them.... and there were some inaccuracies. I assured him that I knew there were some mistakes but for the most part, the meeting happened the way I wrote about it as I saw, heard and perceived it.