Council Postpones Vote on District 1 Seat
The County Council delayed its decision for the second time in five days.
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UPDATE (4:16 p.m.)—After three more rounds of deadlocked voting Tuesday, the Anne Arundel County Council again postponed filling the District 1 seat left vacant by Daryl Jones of Severn, who reported to federal prison less than a month ago.
Dating back to Feb. 16, the six-person council has gone 102 consecutive rounds splitting its votes between Mike Wagner and Peter Smith.
After 100 votes last week—the final 99 split between Wagner and Smith—the council delayed its decision until Tuesday afternoon. After three more rounds of ties, it unanimously approved a motion by councilman James Benoit (D-4th District) to delay the vote until the March 5 County Council meeting.
"I don't see at this time that there's been any movement ... I move we postpone the question to the 'other business' agenda item on March 5, 2012," Benoit said after three rounds of voting that went exactly the way it did last week.
Benoit and councilmen Jerry Walker (R-7th District) and Chris Trumbauer (D-6th District) voted for Smith. Councilmen Dick Ladd (R-5th District), John Grasso (R-2nd District) and Derek Fink (R-3rd District) voted for Wagner.
Many of the people in attendance at Tuesday's special session voiced surprise at the move, saying they hoped the council would have come to a decision.
Fink, chairman of the County Council, said he hoped the extra two weeks helps the council reach a majority vote.
"Hopefully by the first week of March we'll have a candidate with at least four votes—hopefully six," Fink told Patch after the meeting.
According to the county charter, the council has 30 days from the day they removed Jones— which is Wednesday—to find a replacement.
"Obviously we're not going to make it," Fink said, adding that the charter did not specify any repercussions for not filling the seat in time.
Fink noted that the even number of council members could make Tuesday night’s legislation more complicated.
"Hopefully it won't. A lot of votes are [usually] 7-0, but it's possible that we might [deadlock] on issues tonight," he said.
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct the date of the previous vote. The vote occurred on Feb. 16. Patch regrets the error.
Phillip
3:10 pm on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Seriously? Are these people completely incompetent? AND they are running our county :( Shame on them!
Amy Leahy
6:57 pm on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Hard to imagine that six grown men cannot compromise on something that affects citizens in a district that they do not have to answer to....but maybe that's part of the problem. They haven't been elected by THOSE citizens in District 1. Come on guys.
Ryan Stavely
10:08 pm on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Honestly, not having a special election to let the citizens of District 1 make the choice seems like a terrible idea.
I'm also surprised that there isn't a US Senate like "In the event of a tie, the Vice President/County Executive votes to break the tie" rule baked in there.
Amy Leahy
11:03 pm on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Apparently, just as there was no provision dealing with a convicted felon on the County Council, there is also no provision for the tie-breaker for his replacement. I remember many years ago when Councilman Cliff Roop died of a heart attack, the decision was that the next top vote-getter in the election was awarded the seat, and that was Cathy Vitale. However I do not know if it was the AA County Republican Central Committee that made that decision or if the process was the same as they are attempting to do now. This time however, the incumbant has been in office longer and I'm actually wondering why the Democrat Central Committee isn't involved in this.
May Murphy
10:17 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
The council continues to disappoint us in Anne Arundel County.We are the people that vote for you.Pay your salaries.
Put this to a vote with the people that it affects.
Amy Leahy
11:06 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
There should be pressure put on Grasso, Ladd and Fink to go with the choice of the two Dems on the county council. Jerry Walker may be "siding" with them but I think he's absolutely right on this. From what I can tell Mr. Smith has the desire to really serve the citizens and Mr. Wagner is just there because he was asked to throw his name in the mix.
Edmund
12:59 pm on Thursday, February 23, 2012
"From what you can tell" ?
Don't start rumors, thank you .....