Judd was elated to serve once again.
“The opportunity presented itself and I’m so thankful to the council for giving me this opportunity to once again serve the people of Fairfield and represent the 2nd Ward,” Judd said after the meeting.
But the appointment was met with opposition.
Councilman Tim Meyers said he has “the utmost respect” for Judd and his past work on council, but objected to his nomination because of a lack of transparency and the established process for appointments not being followed. Meyers said council members were to submit names of 2nd Ward residents to the mayor and letters would be mailed to them asking for a letter of interest and a resume.
“The person I selected never got a letter, never got a phone call, nor did they get a chance to even interview,” Meyers said.
Mayor Ron D’Epifanio, who is stepping down at year’s end due to term limits, said three names were submitted, and four out of six council members submitted Judd’s name.
“Then it was brought up during that meeting why are we going to take the time, why are we going to put the people through those interviews and that was also a unanimous vote after you excused yourself, to do it that way,” D’Epifanio.
Meyers requested council reconsider its decision and delay the appointment to allow the new council members — who take office on Jan. 1 — to make the appointment.
The city’s three at-large representatives, Meyers, Tim Abbott and Mike Oler, were not permitted to seek re-election due to term limits. They’ll be replaced by newly elected council members Chad Oberson, Mike Snyder and Bill Woeste. Of those three, only Snyder has previously served on council.
“We have no rush to make this (decision), let them make this decision,” Meyers said. “As our law director said in the last meeting, we will not have any legislation that would be impactful that Councilman Judd would need to make. Let them pick and go through an interview process.”
His request was not entertained.
“The majority, in fact all the council members, wanted to address this issue while we’re still in office,” Abbott said. “That is what we set out to do and that is what we decided to do.”
Judd previously served as the 2nd Ward councilman from January 2004 to December 2011 until term limits forced him to sit for two years before he is eligible to run for election.
Judd, who said he will seek election in 2015 when the appointed term expires, said he will focus simply on the needs of the city.
“During these tough economic times, what I’m going to focus on is simply maintaining the high level of city services that the people of Fairfield have always enjoyed. Any big budget projects as far as I’m concerned are on the back burner right now.”
Holtegel, who had been on council in the 1990s, returned in 2011 with the intention to serve a full term, especially because he thought more people with experience were needed on a council that is becoming less experienced.
Holtegel, however, felt he had to resign because of rule changes in the state retirement system that dictated he would lose benefits if he did not retire now.
“The understanding was that when this past election came, there was a possibility of having a good amount of people on council that had less than two years of experience,” Holtegel said. “They needed somebody that had been around the block a time or two … in the next two years, you’ll see a tremendous amount of talent leaving the city of Fairfield.”
When the council turns over, four of the seven council members will have two years or less of experience. Council members Adam Jones and Debbie Pennington were elected in 2011, and Oberson and Woeste have not been on council before, though Woeste has served on the city’s planning commission.
“The city is in great shape, but it’s not necessarily because of council. It’s because of staff,” Holtegel said. “As long as that culture exists in the people in Fairfield, we’ll be fine.”
“Honestly, with the inexperience we’re going to have on City Council, if they were making the decisions, I would have some concerns,” he added.
Judd, who was appointed less than two years after he last served on council, is still able to run for consecutive terms provided he’s elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019, according to Clemmons. The city’s charter mandates after a council person serves two consecutively elected terms he or she may not run for election for two years.
But Clemmons said the charter “doesn’t say you can’t be appointed before then.”
The term, which has more than two years remaining, will also not be subject for any type of special election as with some elected bodies in surrounding communities. Clemmons said the charter dictates if a person is appointed to an unexpired term then they serve the balance.
Oberson, Woeste, Snyder and Mayor-elect Steve Miller will be sworn into office on Dec. 30.
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