By Steven Hoffman
Staff Writer

One of the first items on Kennett Square Borough Council’s agenda on Monday night was to formally accept the resignations of Patrick Taylor and Lynn Sinclair, both of whom have moved out of the borough and are no longer eligible to serve on council.

Another item on the agenda was for borough council to select among three people—LaToya Myers, Christopher Lafferty, and Lenda Carrillo—to fill the two vacancies.

However, council president Leon Spencer made a recommendation that borough council delay accepting the resignations until next month, after the election, so that new council members would have the opportunity to make the decision about who fills the vacancies. Spencer is one of three current council members, along with Chip Plumley and Brett Irwin, who are not seeking re-election, and will be leaving council at the end of the year.

“It shouldn’t be a decision that I make,” Spencer said of making the appointments.

Under the Municipal Code, borough council has 45 days to accept the resignation of a council member, and once a resignation is accepted, borough council has another 30 days to fill the vacancy.

Even though several people already expressed interest in filling the vacancy, council member Geoff Bosley said that he felt that delaying the decision is the right one. The delay would give more people in the community the opportunity to express an interest in filling the vacancy, he noted.

“I was not in favor of voting on the new council members tonight,” explained Bosley. “I think it’s prudent for us to not vote tonight.”

A motion was made to table the acceptance of the resignations, and the motion was approved, 4-1. Plumley voted against delaying the decision, saying that he didn’t think that council vacancies should go on for that long.

Spencer concluded his remarks about the issue by saying that he hopes the three potential candidates who expressed interest in serving on borough council will continue to pursue the positions once the resignations are accepted in December.

Council member Dan Maffei emphasized that the decision to delay filling the vacancies had nothing at all to do with the three candidates who expressed interest in being appointed to the positions.

Once the resignations of Sinclair and Taylor are accepted in December, the new borough council, which will include Maffei, Bosley, and the three people who win the election, will appoint two people to fill vacancies in January.

In other business at the meeting, borough manager Joseph Scalise said that as of right now, no tax increase is expected to be necessary to balance the 2016 general fund budget. Council authorized advertising a public meeting to adopt the 2016 budget ordinance and set the millage rate. That meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 7.

Borough council approved the appointments of Steven Melton and Thomas Schreier to the Shade Tree Commission.

The special events applications for the Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting on Nov. 27, the carriage rides for Dec. 6, Dec. 13, Dec. 20 and Dec. 27, and the 2016 Winterfest for Feb. 27 were all approved by council.

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email [email protected].