Lansdale Could Fill Vacant Council Seat Feb. 21

Dan Sokil | The Reporter•

The newest member of Lansdale’s borough council could be named within weeks.

"I am really excited that we have had robust interest in the ward three council vacancy,” said council President Mary Fuller.

"I see a number of our candidates here, which is amazing. This might be a new record for a seat — I don’t remember having as many candidates in the past, so that is wonderful,” she said.

In January council voted to accept the resignation of then-councilman Mark Ladley, a communications and marketing professional who had served on the borough’s economic development committee since 2015, and was elected to a four-year term on council in 2021. At that time, Fuller said letters of interest and resumes from interested candidates were due in by the end of that month.

On Wednesday night, with several new faces in council’s audience alongside a handful of familiar ones, she gave an update.

"We’re trying to make a decision, if possible, if everybody feels prepared, in two weeks, at our Feb. 21st meeting,” Fuller said.

"If there’s a change in that, we’ll certainly let people know, but there are three committees that are shorthanded, and I think we’d like to be at full power,” she said.

Ladley had been a member of council’s public safety and code enforcement committees, both of which had only two members to approve minutes and vote items ahead for full council approval on Wednesday night; council Vice President Meg Currie Teoh remains the chair of public safety, while new councilwoman Rafia Razzak, who was sworn in last month, now chairs the code committee.

"Today was my first code committee meeting (as chair), so it was definitely exciting, and we had such a great crowd. I thank everyone for coming and sharing your input,” Razzak said, before giving an update on the code committee’s discussion items.

The economic development committee, which had been chaired by Ladley, is now chaired by councilman Andrew Carroll, who announced that group will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 instead of 19th due to the Presidents Day holiday, and will likely discuss reviving their business of the month presentations, economic incentives and promotions, and other initiatives based on the interests and skills of new members.

"We’re accepting any and all ideas: there’s no bad ideas, except for the ones that are not voiced,” Carroll said.

Fuller added afterwards that nine applications had been fielded for the council vacancy, and that current council members had already begun scheduling meetings with the candidates to get to know them.

"I want to make sure they’ve been given proper opportunity to have a chat with each of the candidates. I have met with most of them already, talked about the process, and how it will happen, and I did tell them I hope they get a chance to speak to everybody,” Fuller said.

How will the vote go, and how many candidates will be voted on? Fuller said she’d likely ask for nominations from the rest of council, each member will have a chance to nominate candidates, then the eight council members will vote yes or no on candidates in the order they’re nominated; the first to get five votes would be the selection, and Mayor Garry Herbert could break a tie if needed.

"People can do multiple yes (votes), or multiple nos. If you nominate someone, but also want to vote for someone else, you can do that,” she said.

Staff are also working on communicating with those who sit on various volunteer boards and commissions and need to be reappointed, and those reappointments and any vacancies will be publicized during future meetings.

"There are other ways to be involved. It’s so encouraging to see this number of people interested in serving their community,” Fuller said, adding that she "really enjoyed” meeting all of the candidates.

Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Feb. 21 at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.

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