The Grantsville Town Council met Tuesday, May 28th, 2024 at the City Hall for a special meeting to appoint a council member to fill the seat that has been vacant for the past few months. All current members were present, Emily Collins, Emilee Morgan, Linda Staton and Cheryl Sturms as well as Recorder Judy Powell and Mayor Robert Petrovsky.
Four candidates submitted their names for consideration.
- Tommy Collins
- Marissa Staples
- Teresa Overton
- Courtney Alexander
After several minutes of reading resumes Emily Collins made a motion to appoint Courtney Alexander, which was seconded by Cheryl Sturms. The motion died when the other two council members did not support the motion.
Emilee Morgan then nominated Marissa Staples with a second from Linda Staton. Ridgeview news asked if Mrs. Staples was a relative of a current council member, to which Emilee Morgan responded that she was indeed her daughter-in-law. However, she didn’t believe that should matter for the nomination.
Mayor Robert Petrovsky interjected that the since Emily Collins had recused herself from voting for her brother in law, Tommy Collins; Emilee Morgan probably should recuse herself from nominating or voting for her daughter in law. Morgan disagreed but did recuse herself. The motion was removed.
Linda Staton followed by re-nominating Marissa Staples and upon asking for confirmation of support the vote ended with a final passing by Linda Staton, Emily Collins and Cheryl Sturms.
Marissa Staples was appointed to the Grantsville Town Council.
The question now lies on the ethics of the decision. While the Council can appoint at will whomever they decide, having two candidates related to two different council members in such a small community probably wasn’t the wisest decision. People understand the dynamics of decision making within a family, leaving future decisions in question for partiality. Grantsville Town Council has been under the scrutiny of the community for sometime for questionable decision making with what appears to be an obvious bias against Teresa Overton for her involvement with the 1982 Foundation. In small town politics, it happens. But to load the council candidates for consideration with family, qualified or not, legal or not, certainly doesn’t build confidence for the community that the Council is making decisions based on qualifications rather than personal preference.
