The interview committee for the open Ward 6 council seat deliberated for more than 90 minutes Monday night before recommending Chris Plante be appointed to the position. The other candidates were Patty Dillabough and Dylane Klatt.
Throughout the deliberation, the committee said they had three solid candidates. They held two votes, with committee members first choosing their top two votes with the voting being Klatt (8), Dillabough (6), Plante (6). And then just their top vote, which resulted in a tie with Dillabough (5), Plante (5), and Klatt (0).
The committee paired it down to Dillabough and Plante before discussing the merits of each. Most committee members mentioned that while everyone talked about economic development, Plante said he wanted to see Crookston “open for business.” One of the key considerations for Dillabough was her involvement in the community and ability to be a spokesperson for the city, attributes that all committee members said they’d look for in a mayor. Dillabough also said she aspires to one day be Crookston’s Mayor.
The recommendation was split throughout the discussion, and so were all six current voting members of the City Council who were all present. An appointment requires five votes to pass, and the votes were split 4-2 with Councilmen Bobby Baird, Steve Erickson, Jake Fee, and Tom Vedbraaten favoring Plante, while Don Cavalier and Clayton Briggs favored Dillabough. Acting Mayor Dale Stainbrook was also present but would not have a vote at Council unless the vote is tied and even then his vote would only make it 4-3 one way or the other and the appointment would not pass.
Eventually, after listening to the discussion in favor of both candidates, Briggs voted in favor of Plante to break the deadlock and theoretically give Plante the five votes he’ll need at City Council to be appointed. Briggs said it was a tough decision and he thought that both were qualified before changing his vote. Stainbrook told Briggs he commended and respected his decision to change his vote with the other members echoing that sentiment.
Earlier in the evening, Plante explained why he was interested in filling the open council seat. “I felt now was the time to run for Ward 6 alderman and have been toying with the idea for a long time,” said Plante. “I want to make a difference in the community with the decision-making process.”
The other candidates also talked about their interest in filling the open seat in Ward 6. Dillabough said she considered running during the last election until she heard that Cindy Gjerswold (who resigned after 10 months) was running. “I thought a year ago I was going to apply for Ward 6, but then Cindy said she was going to run, and you can’t ask for a better person,” said Dillabough. “So, I decided to run back for the school board. Get a little more under my belt on issues for the school board and City of Crookston. Now that Cindy has moved out of town, I decided I’d try to step in. If I don’t make it, I’m still on the school board that I still love to do. I love to be in government and love to help anybody that I can help.”
Klatt said he was interested as a way to give back to the community. “I used to coach basketball in the community, and I’m not doing much of that anymore,” said Klatt. “I figured I’d try to get out in the community and give back.”
The recommendation will now go before council explained Stainbrook who said there were three very qualified candidates for the Ward 6 seat. “The recommendation will go to the next council meeting, and it will call for five votes to put Chris Plante in the position,” said Stainbrook. “And then the following meeting he would be sworn in. But it was a tough decision. We had three very good candidates, and they all did very well. I commend Clayton (Briggs). It took a lot of courage and some soul searching for him to switch his vote to get this done and I thank him for it.”
The appointment of Plante is not final until it passes council, however, meaning any member of the council could switch change their mind between now and the next meeting on October 14 although Stainbrook doesn’t anticipate that. “It’s a possibility, but I think the decision was made here and I think it will go through,” said Stainbrook. “I think Clayton thought long and hard about it. To get someone in that Ward 6 seat, I think if we didn’t come to a conclusion, we’d probably look pretty silly down here.”
With Plante on tap to be the next councilmen from Ward 6, the council will now have to go through the process of appointing a mayor after the resignation of Guy Martin last week. The position of mayor will be declared vacant at the October 14 meeting, and the process for appointing a new mayor will be determined at that time.
