The Paddock Lake Village Board will have a committee structure after all following a contentious special meeting Tuesday night.
The special meeting was called by Trustees Chris Bucko and Karen Harris to address committee assignments and the filling of a vacant board position. Both those issues stalled at a regular board meeting last month when a list of committee assignment by new village President Marlene Goodson failed to recieve a second and she withdrew an appointment to the board.
After nearly two hours of arguing over the topics, board members began going down Goodson’s proposed committee assignment list and making changes.
And Goodson’s proposed new trustee, Glenda Morey, said she would agree to be interviewed by the board before they vote on her appointment.
Meanwhile a lot of hard feelings were aired.
Goodson called the meeting a waste of taxpayers’ money because it could have been discussed two weeks ago if her motion on appointments had received a second.
Veteran Trustee Joe Riesselmann criticized Goodson for being on a power trip.
“Ever since you’ve been elected (president) youv’e had a holier than thou attitude,’ Riesselmann said to Goodson. “I’ve never witnessed it from you before. … It seems like you want to run everything.”
Goodson said she made her original committee appointments by what she saw as individuals’ strengths and a need for others to gain more well-rounded experience.
The committee assignments agreed to Tuesday after discussion are:
- Building and Grounds — Terry Burns, Chris Bucko, Kathy Christenson.
- Finance — Marlene Goodson, Terry Burns, Joe Riesselmann, Kathy Christenson.
- Judiciary & License — Terry Bruns, Chris Bucko, Kathy Christenson.
- Police & Fire — Chris Bucko, Terry Burns, Karen Harris.
- Public Works — Joe Riesselmann, Marlene Goodson, Terry Burns.
- Welfare & Recycling — Kathy Christenson, Karne Harris, Marlene Goodson.
- Board member on Plan Commission — Joe Riesselmann, alternate Terry Burns.
There was some discussion of chairmanships of the committees, but Goodson said she would formally propose chairman later.
We did live updates from the meeting as it unfolded, which are available here.
