In the last issue of The Times, Dr. Rutkowski and Lina Bellenir advocated appointing Gerry Freidel, one of two council candidates on the ballot who didn’t receive enough votes to fill one of three vacant seats.
However, if such an appointment is made, shouldn’t the candidate who received the greater amount of votes be selected? That criterion was used when John Kavanagh was appointed to council after not garnering enough votes in the 2000 election. Suggesting the appointment of Mr. Freidel, who received fewer votes, implies that Dr. Ruthkowski/Ms. Bellenir are superior judges of a candidate’s character and qualifications than the voters. I contend that if a candidate from the primary election is appointed, it should be Sharron Grzybowski.
I also believe that Cecil Yates should have resigned from the council in a timely fashion. As the Zinns pointed out last week, had that been the case there would have been four vacancies on the council and Ms. Grzybowski would have been duly elected.
Mayor Linda Kavanagh sent me an email back on April 16, 2018, stating “the main reason why Councilman Yates agreed several months ago to not relinquish his seat until he was obligated by law. I asked him not to. So you and others can blame me for this but I needed him to remain on all these committees and boards as long as possible.” This offers some explanation of his reasoning but doesn’t excuse his or Mayor Kavanagh’s decision to withhold the selection of his replacement from the primary ballot.
It is time for Mayor Kavanagh and the town council to do the right thing and appoint Ms. Grzybowski to the council. It isn’t often that one gets a chance to undo a past inequality and at the same time give the voters what they requested.
