LAURIUM – The Laurium Village Council held its regular June meeting over Zoom Wednesday evening. During the meeting, it was made public that village councilor Loralee Miller had formally resigned her seat because she will be moving out of the village.

“I think she’s been a real asset to our village and our council,” said councilor Amy Schneiderhan. “I’m happy to hear that she’s moving on but it’s a loss for us.”

Miller, whose term was set to expire this November, was active on the village council for nearly 12 years, including being on the Finance and Recreation/Parks/Community Relations Committees. In her time on the council, Miller had organized a number of community social and sporting events and was active in the fundraising for the village including for renovations to the village hall, ballroom, and sports fields.

“She’s been a pleasure to work with in all my years on the council,” said councilor Jeff Erickson. “With all of the things she did for the council, she will be deeply missed.”

While Miller’s move does mean that she is no longer eligible to serve on the council, she will remain in the area and will continue to be active in the community, including working in and managing Miller’s Lanes, a restaurant, bar, bowling alley, and pool hall across the street from the Laurium Village Hall.

“It was difficult to resign, but I have confidence that the current council will continue on to improve Laurium and keep the community members involved with projects and their local government,” Miller said in an emailed statement.

In the event of a vacancy, the village is allowed to appoint a replacement selected from among a pool of applicants to serve out the rest of the term. Due to equity requirements, the village is unable to appoint a new member until the July meeting, meaning that anyone appointed would serve less than 5 months before the term ended and the seat went up for election.

Because the resignation did not reduce the number of councilors to less than a quorum, the village is not required to fill the vacancy prior to the November election, according to Michigan’s General Law Village Act. Not filling the vacancy prior to the election was discussed, but Erickson reported that he had been approached by locals interested in filling the vacant seat.

“If someone’s interested, get them on (the council) and put their name on the ballot (in November),” said Councilor John Sullivan. “You don’t want to let the fire die if they’re interested now.”

The council elected to make a public posting accepting applicants for the position. The council will then appoint one of the applicants at the July meeting. Residents of Laurium over the age of eighteen can find more information by calling (906)337-1600 or by watching for the public notice.

As a reminder, while the Laurium village office is staffed during the day, the village is encouraging business to be done by phone or mail whenever possible to prevent the spread of COVID-19.