Council elects, appoints city officials Dec. 2

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Seward’s mayor, newly elected city council members and appointed officials were officially sworn in during the most recent council meeting Dec. 2.

Jack Vavra, former city administrator for York, was appointed as the interim city administrator for Seward and all city official positions were re-appointments.

However, how to vote for the appointments came under contention during the Dec. 2 meeting.

According to Mayor Josh Eickmeier, all 12 appointments are usually approved or denied as a group, but if council members wanted to vote on an appointment separately, they would have to make a motion to do so.

Councilmember Sid Kamprath made a motion to vote on all the appointments separately, because he said it would not be fair to only vote on a few individually.

Kamprath also disagreed with voting on Vavra’s appointment as the interim city administrator before discussing his contract, which was a separate item later on the agenda.

Newly-elected Council President Chris Schmit said council members and the personnel board had discussed the appointments beforehand.

“At this point, I think everyone’s aware of our intent and where we want to go with things,” Schmit said. “It makes sense to do things as we have.”

Schmit amended the motion to vote on the city administrator’s appointment along with his contract.

Kamprath made another amendment to his motion to also vote on the clerk/treasurer and city attorney separately, based on discussions he had with other council members.

During discussion on the motion with its amendments, new council member Ellen Beck said it would be wise to consider all the positions together except the city administrator as a group.

“This should not be a quasi-personnel position-making moment,” Beck said.

Councilmember Charles Lieske said once the appointments are approved, the only way changes can be made is if the mayor brings an issue forward and the council approves the change.

Councilmember Dean Fritz said the council should approve the mayor’s recommendations.

“I’ve given this a lot of thought today... and with all the turmoil we’ve been through in the last six to eight months, I made a decision today that I think we need to move ahead,” Fritz said.

Kamprath said the council is elected to deal with government issues so their constituents don’t have to, and the council’s power to approve or deny mayoral appointments is important.

“I think that if we just basically give away that power, or relinquish it, we are doing the citizens, in my opinion, a disservice,” Kamprath said.

Kamprath’s motion to vote on the city administrator, clerk/treasurer and city attorney appointments separately failed in a 5-3 vote. Council members Kamprath, Lieske and John Singleton voted for approval, and Beck, Fritz, Barb Pike, Schmit and Dick Hans voted against it.

The appointments were approved in another 5-3 vote, with Beck, Fritz, Pike, Schmit and Hans voting for the mayor’s recommendations, and Kamprath, Lieske and Singleton voting against.