A four-member Crosslake City Council unanimously agreed to appoint Marcia Seibert-Volz to the council through the end of the year at a special meeting Thursday, Aug. 13.
Seibert-Volz succeeds Gary Heacox, who resigned last month. Heacox’s term ends this year, so that council seat will be on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
Four people applied for the council appointment: Seibert-Volz, Kevin Sedivy, Patty Norgaard (former mayor) and Brad Nelson (former council member).
Mayor Dave Nevin sought council appointment of Seibert-Volz at the Monday, Aug. 10, council meeting, but the council ultimately said the four candidates needed to be interviewed because that’s how the appointment was advertised and the interviews hadn’t occurred. The personnel committee had considered applications, but didn’t do interviews.
The personnel committee - which includes Nevin, council member Aaron Herzog, City Administrator Mike Lyonais and Police Chief Erik Lee - interviewed candidates Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 11-12, and forwarded two choices to the council: Seibert-Volz and Sedivy.
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Lyonais said the personnel committee had a lot of discussion on what direction to take, saying the ultimate goal is to do what’s best for the city as a whole. Committee discussion included whether to appoint someone who was or was not connected to the city in the past, whether to appoint someone who is running for office, or whether not to appoint anyone for the few months remaining in the term.
Seibert-Volz filed for election to the council seat in November, and Norgaard filed for election to the mayor seat.
Personnel committee members agreed they would have a tough time getting a majority vote for one candidate, so agreed to forward the two names to the council for consideration.
The council agreed to appoint Seibert-Volz with no discussion.
Council member Dave Schrupp participated in the meeting online via Zoom and others were at city hall. Seibert-Volz was present at city hall so was sworn in and participated in the rest of the meeting.
In other business, the council unanimously agreed to have Fire Chief Chip Lohmiller have environmental mold testing done at the fire hall for a cost of up to $15,000. The council is debating whether to continue renovating the former city hall/fire hall building for fire department use, or tear down the building and construct a new facility because of mold issues.
In addition, Lohmiller will develop a transition plan if the fire department has to move out of that building.
Nancy Vogt may be reached at 218-855-5877 or nancy.vogt@pineandlakes.com. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Nancy.
