By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
James Douglas Jr., came to the Olean Common Council meetings Tuesday night as the nominee for the Ward 6 alderman vacancy. He left the meeting a victim of a rift between the mayor and the aldermen.
Mayor Amy B. Sherburne nominated Douglas to the vacancy created by the resignation of Vernon Robinson Jr., who resigned July 28.
During a committee of the whole meeting prior to the regular meeting, the resolution sponsored by the mayor appointing Douglas, was subject to a motion by Alderman John Crawford, D-Ward 5
When Council President Lawrence “JR” Bennion, R-Ward 1, asked for a second to Crawford’s motion there was silence. “Is there a second?” Bennion asked a second time. Again, no reply. “No second,” he stated.
The failure to get a second to the motion to bring Douglas’ name to the council’s regular meeting was a signal from council members to the mayor.
Asked after the meeting what the council’s failure to second Douglas’ nomination meant for the Ward 6 vacancy, Sherburne told the Olean Star to ask the council. She did not say what she planned to do next to fill the Ward 6 vacancy.
The mayor’s appointment is dead, one alderman said. It died in the committee. The mayor could file another resolution to appoint Douglas, however.
Crawford said afterward that he made the motion to move Douglas’ nomination to a confirmation vote during the regular meeting because he thought Ward 6 should not go unrepresented.
The five aldermen who did not speak up to second the nomination are: Bennion, Joseph Keary, R-Ward 2; Sonya McCall, D-Ward 4 and David Anastasia, D-Ward 7.
After the meeting, McCall said she believed the failure to bring Douglas’ nomination forward reflected the feeling of many aldermen that the mayor could have included the council in the process by letting them interview the nominee as has often been done in the past.
“The message is we want to communicate,” McCall said. It took two months for the mayor to nominate a successor to Robinson in Ward 6. “I think that perhaps we need to reassess the process.” The alderwoman said she suggested to the Mayor’s Office that “the aldermen would probably have questions” for the nominee.
Anastasia said he heard from one person who phoned the Mayor’s Office to express interest in the Ward 6 post, but never got a call back.
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