BRISTOL, Va. – City leaders will try again to fill an impending vacancy on the Bristol Virginia Utilities Board of Directors.
Last month, the council appointed former Councilwoman Vicie Dotson to fill the unexpired term of Kurt Pomrenke, who plans to resign April 1 for personal reasons. Dotson subsequently declined that appointment and the council is scheduled to revisit the appointment during its meeting tonight.
“She said she would serve, but I guess she decided not to. I haven’t talked with her,” Mayor Jim Rector said Monday. Dotson said she discussed the appointment with some council members.
“They talked to me about it, but didn’t say I was their pick,” Dotson said. “After lots of contemplation – with all my professional and personal obligations – I decided I just did not have the time to give it 100 percent.”
A “couple” of other names were suggested during the council’s executive session last month and those are likely to resurface, Rector said. He declined to disclose who else might be considered.
The mayor said he didn’t have a “list” of names but expects other council members to make suggestions.
Before voting, the council typically goes into executive session – closed to the public and news media – to discuss potential board and committee appointments. Votes are taken in open session. An executive session appears on tonight’s agenda.
Councilman Guy Odum plans to ask the council to delay filling the spot until the next council is sworn in July 1, because none of the three incumbents – including the mayor and vice mayor – are seeking re-election.
“It would be my preference to wait until the three new councilmen come into office and wait on making any important appointments, because they’re going to be dealing with those boards for the next four years,” Odum said. “If, in two years, I decide not to run or am not re-elected, I would defer to the incoming councilmen.”
Both Odum and Councilman Jim Heaney missed the Feb. 23 meeting, when Dotson was appointed in a 3-0 vote.
Under normal circumstances, the appointment would only be until June 30, 2011, when Pomrenke’s term is scheduled to expire.
However, because BVU is attempting to convert to an independent authority, provisions of the legislation would extend that term until 2015.
Pomrenke, a local attorney, is also the BVU board’s representative on the city’s Economic Development Committee. On Monday, committee Chairman Doug Weberling lamented his departure.
“We appreciate your time, efforts and ideas you brought to the committee. You’re a real asset to our community,” Weberling told Pomrenke.
BVU board members will have to designate another representative for the committee, but Pomrenke’s replacement won’t automatically receive that nod, BVU General Counsel Walt Bressler said.
The council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 300 Lee St.
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532
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