Seven apply for vacant council seat
Borough council will have a big decision to make in two weeks, and has plenty of candidates interested in becoming their colleague.
Council President Denton Burnell announced Wednesday night that seven candidates have applied to fill the Ward 1 seat vacated by the resignation of former councilman Jason Van Dame, and council hopes to appoint one of those seven on June 20.
“We had seven applicants: a great, diverse group, young and old, male and female, new to the
borough and not new to the borough — a really nice, diverse group,” Burnell said.
“I’ve encouraged my colleagues to reach out, make contact, try to have conversations with each and every one of them. I’ve gotten to four of the seven so far, and I’ve got another one tomorrow,” he said.
Van Dame announced in April his resignation from council to take a position with the borough’s code enforcement department, and he had himself first been appointed to council in 2013 to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of prior councilman Paul Clemente. Van Dame was subsequently reelected in 2013 and 2017, and Burnell said Wednesday that the new member would serve for one and a half years, until a special election in November 2019 for the remainder of what would have been Van Dame’s term.
“We’ve got a really strong group. I think it’s actually going to be a very challenging decision for us to make, ultimately, because there’s a lot of good candidates,” said Burnell.
Council members have all been notified of all of the candidates’ identities, according to Burnell, who declined to name them but said each candidate will be invited to speak to the public on June 20.
“If they want to make a statement on their own behalf, they would be more than welcome to do so. I would probably encourage them to do so,” he said.
“We’re all doing our own informal interviews with all of them: what their goals are, what they hope to do on council, things that are important to them, why they think they’re the best choice, all of that,” he said.
On that night, Burnell said, he will likely open the floor to any and all nominations, then determine whether and how to hold votes based on how many of the candidates are nominated.
“It might depend on who’s nominated first, second, third — it may just depend on the order of things, and where people’s heads and hearts are, in terms of who they think the best fit is,” he said.