Lake Santeetlah – In its first meeting, the new Town of Lake Santeetlah council has changed many matters of town policy and leadership.
New councilmember Connie Gross will serve as the town’s new mayor, after a 3-2 vote at the council’s meeting. Gross, new councilmember Tina Emerson and new councilmember Ralph Mitchell voted in favor, while incumbent councilmember Diana Simon and former mayor Jim Hager voted against.
Gross’ election was the third attempt at electing a mayor for the town, with a motion made by Hager to elect Simon mayor failing 3-2, with Gross, Emerson and Mitchell opposed. Gross also made a motion to name Mitchell mayor, but he declined the office.
Gross was also elected finance officer by the same 3-2 margin, while Mitchell was named vice mayor.
After being elected, Gross made a motion to move the meetings to 5:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month, which she said would make it easier for the increasing number of non-retired residents of the town to be involved in local politics.
“It’s really not right for a working person,” Emerson said.
However, Simon emphasized that the community was still primarily retirees.
“Our community is made up of vacation home owners,” Simon said.
Hager expressed concerns about the change being made by vote without giving residents of the town an opportunity to weigh in first, and questioning the transparency of the measure.
At times the meeting verged on being contentious, with a person watching on Zoom saying “you dumb b—h,” while Emerson was speaking, prompting attorney Brian Gulden to stop the meeting briefly and ask town clerk Kim Matheson to mute all watchers not directly involved in the meeting.
“We don’t need to have this,” Gulden said. “That’s absurd.”
The board also voted across the same lines to suspend the contract with Aldridge Brothers for the front entrance that the previous board had approved in its November meeting. Gross made the claim that the town had violated its own rules, with liability insurance for construction projects to be at least $2 million.
The Aldridge Brothers contract is not to exceed $72,000.