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Photos by Evan Brandt
Matthew Fitzgerald is the newest member of the Owen J. Roberts School board , but it wasn't easy.
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The vacancy was created by the unexpected death of board member James B. Frees on Feb. 1.
Frees, who had just won another four-year term in November, was recognized by the school board,
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Superintendent Susan Lloyd, left, and School Board President
Melissa Booth present the family of James Frees with a resolution
and keepsake Wildcat.
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A total of four people applied to fill the vacancy. Two of them, Don Foy and Robert Rasmussen, had run in the November election and lost and a third, William Kleinfelter, had just finished a term on the board.
But the eventual winner -- after a long and drawn-out process -- was Matthew Fitzgerald, a 51-year-old engineer from East Vincent Township.
He told reporters after the meeting that he had intended to run in the next round of local elections but the death of Frees, who was a personal friend, "accelerated my timetable."
What was not accelerated was the process by which he was chosen.
At 6:30 p.m., all four candidates were interviewed by the board, which is to say all four spoke and all four were then asked one question -- whether they intended to run once the term is up in two years.
(Because Frees had just been reelected, state law dictates the person chosen to replace him only holds the seat until the next municipal election, which will be in November of 2019.)
Then, the vote on which candidate would be chosen was placed at the end of the night's agenda. This being employee and student recognition night, more than 100 people were in attendance and there were a lot of awards to give out before the board got down to business.
But the eventual winner -- after a long and drawn-out process -- was Matthew Fitzgerald, a 51-year-old engineer from East Vincent Township.
He told reporters after the meeting that he had intended to run in the next round of local elections but the death of Frees, who was a personal friend, "accelerated my timetable."
What was not accelerated was the process by which he was chosen.
At 6:30 p.m., all four candidates were interviewed by the board, which is to say all four spoke and all four were then asked one question -- whether they intended to run once the term is up in two years.
(Because Frees had just been reelected, state law dictates the person chosen to replace him only holds the seat until the next municipal election, which will be in November of 2019.)
Then, the vote on which candidate would be chosen was placed at the end of the night's agenda. This being employee and student recognition night, more than 100 people were in attendance and there were a lot of awards to give out before the board got down to business.
The voting finally began before 9 p.m., with each board member naming the candidate of their choice.
On the first round, Kleinfelter received one vote, Fitzgerald three, Rasmussen two and Foy two.
So Kleinfelter was dropped from the voting and in the second round, Foy received two, Rasmussen three and Fitzgerald three.
The board then decided to take a recess, so they could talk among themselves, so long as no more than five spoke together at once, because that would be a quorum and violate the Open Meetings Law.
But before the recess, they decided to take public comment, which took another 20 minutes.
Finally they returned and were deadlocked once again because board member Karel Minor declined to vote at all or, as he put, just voted no. That left Rasmussen with three and Fitzgerald with three votes each and School Board President Melissa Booth need not cast her vote.
Finally, board member Douglas Hughes, who called Minor's action "disappointing," switched his vote from Rasmussen to Fitzgerald -- seemingly as much to get a result as anything.
He was joined by Booth and they, along with members Pamela Clouser-White, Cathie Whitlock, Leslie Proffitt, who voted by speaker phone, and that got them to the requisite five votes.
Here are the Tweets from the meeting:
On the first round, Kleinfelter received one vote, Fitzgerald three, Rasmussen two and Foy two.
So Kleinfelter was dropped from the voting and in the second round, Foy received two, Rasmussen three and Fitzgerald three.
The board then decided to take a recess, so they could talk among themselves, so long as no more than five spoke together at once, because that would be a quorum and violate the Open Meetings Law.
But before the recess, they decided to take public comment, which took another 20 minutes.
Finally they returned and were deadlocked once again because board member Karel Minor declined to vote at all or, as he put, just voted no. That left Rasmussen with three and Fitzgerald with three votes each and School Board President Melissa Booth need not cast her vote.
Finally, board member Douglas Hughes, who called Minor's action "disappointing," switched his vote from Rasmussen to Fitzgerald -- seemingly as much to get a result as anything.
He was joined by Booth and they, along with members Pamela Clouser-White, Cathie Whitlock, Leslie Proffitt, who voted by speaker phone, and that got them to the requisite five votes.
Here are the Tweets from the meeting:
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