Amador County – The Plymouth City Council welcomed one new elected official and appointed another, along with an interim city manager Thursday, and bid farewell to Councilman Mike O’Meara, Mayor Patricia Fordyce and City Manager Dixon Flynn.

The council seated new Councilman Peter Amoruso, then appointed Sandy Kyles, third place finisher to fill a vacancy left when Sean McGinness resigned due to ineligibility.

City Clerk Gloria Stoddard led Amoruso in his oath of office early in the meeting, and then he took the dais with the new council, which was faced with a vacancy despite two election winners on November 2nd.

McGinness led the vote count and Amoruso was second, but McGinness had moved out of town before the election, and was ineligible to run for office, and it was too late to reprint the ballots. After winning, he resigned.

Mayor Fordyce said she did not like the state law, which deemed the seat a vacancy, instead of allowing Kyles to take the position.

Fordyce and O’Meara left the dais, Amoruso took office, and Vice Mayor Greg Baldwin opened discussion on how to fill the vacancy. City Attorney Laura Hollender said they could appoint someone to fill the post, or call a special election. She said a preliminary cost of having a special election would be $4,224, not including the cost of mail-in ballots. Stoddard said the cost estimated by the Amador County election department also did not include legal costs.

Councilwoman Pat Shackleton said she was surprised Kyles did not win the election, and thought people may have confused her with someone else. She said Kyles was a former city employee and current planning commissioner and did a “wonderful job” at both positions.

Shackleton motioned to appoint Kyles, and the council voted 4-0 to do so. Kyles was then led in the oath of office by Stoddard and took her seat. In public comment, after the vote, Gary Colburn then told the council they should have called an election. Baldwin apologized for not allowing public comment first.

The council selected Councilman Greg Baldwin as mayor and Councilman Jon Colburn was named vice mayor.

The council after closed session also announced the appointment of Jeff Gardner to be interim city manager, with further details not available before airtime.

The council plans to have resolutions honoring Flynn, O’Meara and Fordyce at their January 13th meeting. Flynn finished his third year as city manager. O’Meara served eight years and Fordyce served seven years on the council.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.