The Charter gives the new Council exactly one job to do before anything else: elect a President pro tempore. The Fourth Council has responded with eight separate resolutions to do it.
Seven councilors were elected last weekend: Vinnyvxx, 306kaliurs, ltls_Meh, TradeEffect, h6cki, LooperEpic, and ApolloOfRome. Between November 1st and 2nd, the docket filled with resolutions appointing eight different people to the Council’s presiding seat, numbered CR 4-1 through CR 4-7, plus CR 4-9.
Who Filed What
Four of the resolutions were put forward by the person they would appoint:
- CR 4-1: Vinnyvxx, introduced by Vinnyvxx
- CR 4-3: 306kaliurs, introduced by 306kaliurs
- CR 4-5: h6cki, introduced by h6cki
- CR 4-7: Stanlabs, introduced by Stanlabs?
The other four were introduced by colleagues. ltls_Meh introduced the resolution for LooperEpic (CR 4-2). 306kaliurs introduced two more, for TradeEffect (CR 4-4) and for ltls_Meh (CR 4-9). h6cki introduced the one for ApolloOfRome (CR 4-6). That means 306kaliurs, by himself, sponsored three of the eight, and h6cki two. Take that however you like.
We’re not sure why, but one entry doesn’t fit. Stanlabs is not among the seven councilors the Electoral Commission reported elected, yet a resolution in his name sits on the docket, with him listed as the sponsor. The Harrison Independent has not been able to confirm how it got there.
The Job Itself
It’s worth asking why so many people want the job. By the Charter’s own description, the President pro tempore has “such duties only as set out in this Charter and in the rules.” In practice that means presiding over sessions when the County Executive isn’t there. It also means something bigger: when the Executive’s office is vacant, the President pro tempore at that moment is the one who steps in and acts as County Executive. Vinnyvxx did exactly that last month after the recall. Anyone eyeing that path knows where it starts.
Some Fine Print
Read side by side, the resolutions are a little rough. Vinnyvxx’s cites Section 16 of the Charter, which is the right one. Six of the other seven cite Section 27 as the source of the requirement, and Section 27 is the expulsion clause.
LooperEpic’s resolution is a different kind of problem. Its findings say LooperEpic “has served on the First, Second, and Third Councils, as County Clerk, President Pro Tempore, and most recently, as Acting County Executive.” Those are Vinnyvxx’s credentials, repeated word for word from CR 4-1 with the name swapped.
What It Costs
The Third Council spent a stretch of its short term failing to reach quorum, and its first resolution (also an appointment of Vinnyvxx as President pro tempore) passed in a single vote. This Council gets through December 29th, about two months. A week of competing resolutions for a post with limited formal powers is a noticeable share of that, and until one passes, the Charter’s first order of business is still unfinished.
No vote on any of the eight has been recorded in the materials The Harrison Independent reviewed. We’ll report the result as soon as the Clerk’s records show one.
The egos are on the docket. What remains to be seen is whether the Council can do anything else.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.
The Harrison Independent is an independently owned and operated press outlet and is not affiliated with the government of Harrison County or Community Management.