The city of Hillsdale hasn’t had a permanent city clerk since November of 2011.
That changed on Tuesday.
Julie Kast was elected to the city clerk position from a four- candidate field with 297 votes. Also running were Amy England (209), James Pruitt (144), and Adam Stockford (126). The city’s clerk troubles began last August when Parke Hayes announced he would not run for reelection due to health reasons.
Unfortunately, Hayes’ name, running unopposed, had already been printed on ballots to be used for the the November 2011 election and it would cost too much to print more. The city decided to use the ballots and tried to inform city voters of Hayes’ decision.
The election was held in November and after the votes were counted, Hayes had been reelected city clerk.
Hillsdale City Council appointed Michelle Lauren, director of the parks and recreation department, to interim city clerk at Nov. 14’s meeting.
“I would advise candidates for city clerk to apply and circulate their petitions as soon as possible,” Hayes said, after he swore in Lauren as his replacement. Since then, the city has been especially concerned with com- munication between the city government and city residents.
In Feb. 9’s meeting, the council even created a temporary communications committee to try to update the city’s communication capabilities.
“In a nutshell, technology has far surpassed the city’s communication capabilities,” Watkins said at the meeting.
Hayes’ said he was happy the city got four candidates for Tuesday’s election.
