Photo by Erik Lee Laurium Village Clerk and Acting Village Manager Patricia Golus swears in new Village Council appointee John Galbraith.

LAURIUM – A vacant seat was filled on the Laurium Village Council at their regular meeting on Tuesday. The council unanimously accepted John Galbraith from among three formal applicants for the position and one community member who volunteered for the position during the meeting.

Galbraith was sworn in on the spot by Village Clerk and Acting Village Manager Patricia Golus and took up a seat for the duration of the meeting.

The seat had been vacated in last month’s resignation of Council Member Amy Schneiderhan, which came too close to be filled by next month’s ballot election. As a result, it fell to the council to appoint someone to fill that seat for the remainder of the term.

“I threw my hat in the ring because I’m interested in municipal government,” said Galbraith. “I love living in Laurium … I think I should give back.”

Three community members had submitted applications, and all had been invited to speak at the October meeting.

Of those three invited applicants, only Galbraith was in attendance, which Council Members Jessica Hrebec and Jeff Erickson both said testified to his being the best candidate.

As the council was discussing Galbraith’s application, one of the community members in attendance, Michael Rostello, volunteered to fill the seat. Rostello spoke to having worked on the village street and fire departments for many years, but also said that his current job with FEMA means that he is often out of the area.

Because of Rostello’s availability concerns and Galbraith’s having gone through the proper application channels, the council followed through on Erickson’s motion to appoint Galbraith. Galbraith will now complete the two years remaining of Schneiderhan’s term before the seat is up for election again.

November’s election may still change the council makeup, as Jessica Hrebec’s seat is up for election. The council has already tabled a number of important decisions until after the election in order to make those decisions with a full and representative council.

The Village still has one major position to fill following the retirement of longtime village manager Ed Vertin. The role is temporarily being filled by Golus who described permanently filling the position by saying “the sooner the better.”

After receiving no applications for the open Village Manager position, the Village chose to post the position with the Michigan Municipal League. The position is also to be posted more broadly online and may be posted with the local Chamber of Commerce.

The Council also expressed interest in talking with the village of Calumet about jointly hiring a code-enforcement officer, specifically in light of a new rental ordinance being considered by the Laurium Council.