Once again at Monday night’s meeting of the Ellsworth City Council, the procedures for city appointments were briefly discussed.

The council approved the recommendation of Interim City Administrator Allen J. Dinkel by tabling further discussion of draft Charter Ordinance No. 28 until the June 23 meeting.

However, that approval did not come without a few fireworks beforehand.

Dinkel noted that after the council adopted Charter Ordinance 27 at the Dec. 9 meeting, dealing with the appointment and removal of officers, it was discovered there was an error in publication, making it null and void.

At the May 12 meeting, the council revisited the charter ordinance to remove the appointment of officers, as they are city employees and would be hired and removed via personnel policies. Dinkel said there appeared to be a consensus to allow the appointment of boards, commissions and committees to be left to the mayor and be subject to approval by the council.

After further discussion at the May 27 council meeting, Dinkel said he would come up with a new draft charter ordi- a new draft charter ordinance for consideration.

Draft ordinance Section 2 on elections notes, among other things, that in case of a vacancy on the council occurring by reasons of resignation, death or removal from office or city, the council shall appoint an elector to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term. This must be done within 45 days. In the case any person elected as a council member neglects or refuses to qualify within 30 days after election, the council member shall be deemed to have refused to accept the office and a vacancy shall exist.

In case of a vacancy in the office of mayor, the president of the council shall become the mayor for the remainder of the term and a vacancy shall occur in the office of the council member becoming mayor.

In Section 3, appointment and removal, the new charter ordinance is amended as follows: the governing body may hire and employ a city administrator, police chief and city clerk and enter into an agreement for the services of a city attorney when a vacancy exists. A vote of a majority of all the members of the council may remove these officers. The mayor shall not have the power to suspend any officer. All other employees will be hired and removed by the city administrator.

Mayor Dan Finnegan said he was against the draft resolution as presented.

“I think you’ve made some progress,” he said. “In my opinion, you really need to think about the mayor’s job and duties. You’re not giving the mayor any leverage, and I think we needed that last year. And I felt like I proved it.”

Finnegan raised concerns that “depowering” the mayor is a slippery slope.

Council member Don Panzer responded that he and council member Tyler Renard are in agreement that the draft contains everything they want. Panzer then asked Dinkel if the council could go ahead and vote on it.

Dinkel recommended the council review it, discuss it and make sure everything is in place first.

“I think if you are going to have a mayor, the mayor needs to have some level of authority in an emergency situation,” Finnegan said.

He recommended working on the draft in the next two weeks to get something that alerts people that there is a problem here. That, according to Finnegan, would lead to a 6-0 vote.

“I’m going to do my job, and I think I’ve followed the law,” Finnegan said.

Panzer said he doesn’t like the way Finnegan conducts himself at meetings. He pointed to Finnegan recently saying he was not reappointing City Attorney Patrick Hoffman when there were five on the council who were in favor of reappointing him.

Renard said Finnegan was the reason for the discontent among the governing body.

“Because I follow the law,” Finnegan said.

“We’ve done it the one way forever, and when you show up, we have to change everything,” Renard said.

“Because I read the law,” Finnegan said.

“I like what we’ve got here,” Renard said regarding the draft ordinance. “I don’t care if we have a 5-1 vote on this. You (Finnegan) will be the one voting against it.”

During another brief interaction between Renard and Finnegan, Finnegan dared Renard to call him “a joke.” Renard then did so.

“You’re a joke,” Renard said.

That was when Council President Jessica Kootz stepped in and asked the council to get back on topic. She then moved further consideration of the draft ordinance be tabled until June 23. Renard seconded the motion.

In other business:

• Deb Brown of T&R Cats requested the city apply for a grant to provide funds so she can continue to help assist stray cats in the community. Dinkel asked that she make an appointment with him to discuss the matter.

• A request by Ryan and Linda Webber, 1401 W. 12th St., for the city to fund a septic system project was denied.

• Approval was given to Supplemental Agreement No. 1 between the City of Ellsworth and BG Consultants, Inc. for the potable water preliminary engineering report, at a cost not to exceed $15,000.

• Resolution 2025-20, extending the declaration of a water warning, was approved, with removal of the USD 327 football fields and to allow fundraising car washes conducted by youth and civic organizations.

• No action was taken after a 5-minute executive session with Dinkel and Hoffman to discuss the vacant city clerk position.

The next meeting of the Ellsworth City Council will be at 5:30 p.m. June 23, at city hall.