Jan 22, 2015 3 min read

Mt. Pleasant Township will employ its vacancy board in an attempt to fill a spot on the board of supervisors.

The appointed official would fill a vacancy that was left by the resignation of former supervisors chairman Bryan Smith and would serve until the end of 2015. Supervisor Dencil Backus’ term also ends in December. A municipal election for the two seats will be held this year.

A vacancy board, consisting of the two current supervisors and vacancy Chairman James Bedillion, will convene at 6 p.m. Feb. 2. If no one is appointed within 15 days of the meeting, a Washington County Court judge can make an appointment.

Backus and Vice Chairman Gary Farner each made a motion to appoint a candidate at a board meeting Wednesday, but those motions died for lack of an agreement. Backus said there are four candidates, all whom are qualified for the position.

Backus said he has been wrestling with the decision and feels that all four candidates are eager to serve their community and have leadership experience. But he based his motion on a third consideration.

“It seems to me that someone appointed to this board should be representative of the constituency that we represent, and right now we’ve got two old men – well, maybe I should speak for myself here, Gary,” he said at Wednesday’s supervisors meeting.

Backus made a motion to appoint Amylyn Kyler, saying she best represents the township’s population, which is 50 percent female and has a median age of 40. He also argued candidate Brian Temple, chairman of the planning commission, is “exactly where he should be” in his current position. He said the planning commission chairman is the most important job in Mt. Pleasant, which is in the process of revising its oil and gas zoning ordinance and creating a new comprehensive plan.

“Those two documents, those two items, are things that need to move forward and come to this body quickly, and I think that Brian Temple is the one to do that,” he said.

Farner disagreed, stating he felt Temple had the expertise to do both and “still work through and work with the planning commission.” He made a motion to appoint Temple, which died for lack of a second.

The board would have had until Jan. 30 to make an appointment, but Farner said they realized they were at an impasse and decided that convening the vacancy board was the best way to proceed.