At Monday night’s meeting, new Marysville City Council President Mark Reams made his appointments to the council committees.
Under the rules of council, the council president, who also serves as mayor, has the right to appoint committee members for the city.
Reams appointed council member Henk Berbee to lead the finance committee with members Alan Seymour and Donald Boerger. He appointed council member J.R. Rausch to lead the public service/public safety committee with members Deb Groat and Aaron Carpenter.
Usually those appointments are made without objection. This year was different.
Immediately after announcing his committees, Reams called for a motion to adjourn the meeting, which he got. The motion passed. After the vote Carpenter spoke against the adjournment. He asked if he could comment even though the meeting was closed.
“The meeting is adjourned,” Reams said again.
Earlier in the meeting Carpenter said he was interested in the appointments, though they had not been formally announced. Carpenter asked Reams for some clarification.
“With all due respect, when those appointments do get made, if I could ask the mayor, again respectfully Mr. Reams, if you could just explain your reasoning behind those and if I could have a chance to comment on that specific thing, I would appreciate the opportunity to do so,” Carpenter said.
He asked if he could have time after the announcement to make “some quick remarks.”
Before announcing the committee appointments, Reams said he had spoken with each council member to, “get an understanding of their interests or what their thoughts are moving forward.”
“I weighed what everybody had to say, as far as their interests, in addition to looking at things like continuity, what happens depending on whether or not at-large members are reelected next year and also looked at maintaining some continuance on these committees.”
While Carpenter did not say what committee he wanted to be part of, last year he openly campaigned to be included on the finance committee.
In addition to asking about the committee appointments, Carpenter also used his time to defend his position on council.
During public comment period, resident Brittney Powers asked the residents, the mayor and other members of council to join her in calling for Carpenter’s resignation, “to protect the wellbeing of the city.”
“Due to Aaron, I am afraid Marysville will continue to see decline in its reputation, causing investments in the city to be lost, specifically within technology-related industry,” Powers said. “Due to this, I am afraid of the harm he will continue to inflict on the city if he remains on council for the remainder of his term.”
She said his actions have, “drawn negative attention to our community.”
Powers said she doesn’t care about a person’s political affiliation, but said his “divisive antics are casting a shadow over the community as a whole.”
“While I understand that he truly believes he is doing what is right for him, he is not doing right for Ward One or Marysville as a whole,” Powers said.
Carpenter responded saying he would never step down.
“There is no reason for me to do so,” Carpenter said.
He explained that as Powers was talking, someone texted him thanking him for representing the majority of Marysville and encouraging him to keep his head up “as some sectors of our community push back on what I am doing.”
“I know the majority of our city supports freedom and the First Amendment and those are the things I stand for,” Carpenter said.
“It is an honor to represent Ward One,” Carpenter said. “I keep in close contact with them. From what I am hearing, there is a lot of support out there, majority support out there. There are a small few who would like to see me removed from my position. That’s your right to think that way, but it’s not going to happen. It is never going to happen, actually.”