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Norton City Council elects DeHart president, Harbert vice president; keeps committee roster and meeting schedule
Summary
At its Jan. 6 organizational meeting the Norton City Council elected Mr. DeHart as council president and Mr. Harbert as vice president, approved a twice-monthly meeting schedule, kept standing committee assignments largely unchanged and deferred formal adoption of updated council rules.
The Norton City Council elected Mr. DeHart as Council President and Mr. Harbert as Vice President at its organizational meeting on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, confirmed standing committee assignments and approved a regular meeting schedule while deferring final adoption of revised council rules.
The council convened for the organizational meeting and the clerk, Ms. Macomber, read the procedures for electing a president and vice president, citing Council Rules Number 102. Ms. Macomber said: "This is cited in Council Rules Number 102 and it reads that within 10 days from the commencement of the term, council shall hold an organizational meeting." The clerk explained nominations and the voice/roll-call process for electing officers.
Council members nominated Mr. DeHart for president; after the roll-call procedure recorded in the transcript, Mr. DeHart was confirmed as president. The council then opened nominations for vice president, nominated Mr. Harbert and confirmed him in that post following the roll-call procedure recorded in the meeting.
President DeHart announced chair and co-chair assignments for the council's regular standing committees, largely retaining the existing slate. Assignments stated in the meeting record include:
- Finance: Chair Mr. Harbert; co-chair Mr. Mowery; member Mr. Towsley. - Personnel and Rules: Chair Mr. Lukens; vice chair Ms. Lee; member Mr. Harbert. - Planning and Economic Development: Chair DeHart; co-chair Mr. Ader; member Mr. Lukens. - Property and Mines: Chair Ms. Lee; co-chair Mr. Lukens; member Mr. Mallory. - Safety: Chair Mr. Ader; co-chair Mr. Towsley; member DeHart. - Service: Chair Mr. Towsley; co-chair DeHart; member Mr. Ader. - Utilities: Chair Mr. Mallory; co-chair Mr. Harbert; member Ms. Lee.
The council voted to adopt a meeting schedule of the first and third Monday of each month. A motion to adopt the schedule received a second and a roll-call was taken; the clerk recorded affirmative responses in the transcript and the motion was approved.
Council members reviewed proposed changes to the council rules (including discussion of Rule 103). Mr. Towsley recommended clarifying language in Rule 103 to replace the phrase "in January or as soon thereafter as possible" with a clearer reference to "in the month of January," so that majority-vote rule changes would be explicitly tied to January and other amendments would require the supermajority specified in Rule 601 (five of seven votes). The council agreed not to adopt the rules that night and to give members additional time to review the proposed amendments; no final vote to adopt the new council rules was taken at the meeting.
The meeting concluded after the president moved to adjourn; the motion was seconded and passed.
Votes and formal actions recorded in the meeting include elections of council officers, appointment of committee rosters by the newly seated president, adoption of the meeting schedule and adjournment. The transcript records the nomination and roll-call procedures for the officer elections and the roll call for the meeting-schedule motion; it does not contain a clear, unambiguous roll-call tally attached to each named vote in a way that allows the transcript alone to list individual yes/no votes for each motion.
