WHITEHALL — The Whitehall city council rejected mayor Steven Salter's recommended list of eight people who would comprise a Playhouse sustainability committee at Tuesday's regular council meeting. The meeting took place this week instead of next week due to the Christmas holiday.
The council voted 6-1 to decline Salter's nomination slate, with the mayor the lone dissenting vote. Per the city charter, the council has the right to provide "advice and consent" to mayoral committee nominations. The council approved the creation of such a committee at its Noc. 26 meeting in lieu of approving a loan the Playhouse requested.
The mayor's nomination slate included himself, council member Tom Ziemer, local business owners Elie Ghazal, Amanda Kiefer, Kara Smith and Ryan Briegel, and Frank Bednarek and Laurie Audo from the nonprofit Friends of the Playhouse group. Ziemer and Tanya Cabala both expressed support for having fellow council member Scott Brown on the committee, believing he could bring ideas to generate revenue for the Playhouse. It was not clear if his omission was the only reason the council voted the list down.
During earlier discussion, the council seemed united in hoping to put the committee together as soon as possible, with meetings likely beginning in January. Despite the council turning down the mayor's list, city manager Scott Huebler said he and Playhouse manager Beth Beaman are doing some preliminary work to give the committee a head start once its composition is determined. Mayoral nominations for the city's regularly scheduled committees will be due for the Jan. 28 council meeting, creating a logical time for the new Playhouse committee to be formed as well.
In other council business Tuesday, the council unanimously approved a resolution to commit to providing at least $35,676 toward the cost of resurfacing the boardwalk south to Lake Street in 2027. The approval was necessary to secure additional funding from the state Department of Transportation, which is providing money through its Carbon Reduction Program.
The council also unanimously approved a request from Walk the Beat White Lake to use the lawn area west of the veterans wall and flags in Covell Park as one of its venues for next year's event, which is slated for July 19.
Several city employees were honored for milestone work anniversaries during the meeting as well. Police officer Derek Sova was honored for 25 years of service, police officer Travis Bolles and Department of Public Works employee David Silk for 20 years, and Beaman, city clerk Brenda Bourdon and treasurer Alyssa Seaver for 10 years. Additionally, Paul Young was honored for his retirement after working for the Whitehall DPW for 21 years.
