St. Joseph City Commissioner Chris Heugel has tendered his resignation from the City Commission and tonight the commission will have to sort out the process for finding a replacement for him.
Heugel, who also serves as President of the Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce delivered a brief letter to City Hall last Thursday saying, “It is with a heavy heart that effective immediately, I must resign my seat on the city commission. As of today, I have closed on the sale of my house in the city and will now reside full time with my wife in St. Joseph Township.” Heugel adds, “It has been a true privilege and an honor to serve the citizens along with the staff and my fellow commissioners of this wonderful city. I look forward to continually support the city whenever possible.”
The City Commission tonight will accept his resignation and debate which route to take next in finding a replacement for him. Heugel was first elected in November of 2013, and took office on November 11th of that year, so he has served nearly four years.
St. Joseph City Manager John Hodgson tells the Commission, “Although Commissioner Heugel’s resignation was effective immediately, it would be appropriate for the City Commission to formally accept that resignation and staff would ask that the Commission please do so.” He adds, “Moving forward, Commissioner Heugel’s term of office expires in November of 2019. The City Commission has the responsibility to select a replacement to serve out the remainder of that term, approximately two years.”
Hodgson reminds commissioners that twice in the last 20 years a City Commissioner has resigned during their term of office including in September of 1998 when Charles LaSata resigned, and again in August of 2007, Chad Mandarino resigned. In LaSata’s case, the remaining term was about 8 months and after advertising for about a month the commission appointed Jack Zimmerman to fill the gap.
In Mandarino’s case, the gap was about 2 months, and Stephen Upton was appointed to the vacancy.
Hodgson is encouraging the City Commission to consider the process they would like to follow in seeking a new member to serve until November of 2019. The Commission will decided tonight either which plan they want to follow or perhaps to defer consideration to a later meeting while seeking additional information on how to proceed. Stay tuned.
