Mayor Adam Stockford was not present during the vote to reject LaRue’s nomination. Josh Hypes | Collegian

Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford said he regrets his absence during a city council vote on a library board nomination earlier this month.

Stockford, in Monday’s council meeting, apologized for his absence at the March 6 meeting. He said he would have delayed the vote on library board nominee Daniel LaRue, a member of the Hillsdale Community Schools board, had he known the division it would sow in the community.

“Had I been at the meeting last Monday, having a gut feeling on how the appointment process would go, I would have just pulled the appointment off the table rather than putting the whole community through another controversy,” Stockford said.

The fifth seat on the library board is vacant, and must be filled by a member of the school board, according to the city charter. Councilman Joshua Paladino ’18 challenged this provision with an amendment to the city charter during the March 6 council meeting. The amendment was referred to the Operations and Governance Committee for further consideration.

Stockford said he originally planned to appoint another school board member, Pat Flannery, to the library board. Hillsdale Community Schools Superintendent Shawn Vondra, however, told him in an email that the school board had its own selection process for the library board.

“I said ‘I’m sorry Shawn, I was not aware of that. The city charter does not speak to the process. It just said that a member had to be a school board member,’” Stockford said.

Stockford said he told Vondra he hoped the process of selecting the next library board member would be a collaborative process between the school board and the city council. He said he didn’t hear anything back from the school board until its nomination of LaRue.

Stockford said concerned residents sent him letters about LaRue’s political advocacy during the November election and prior chairmanship of the Hillsdale County Democratic Party, which prompted him to not act on the school board’s nomination for several months.

“I will say, I understand the apprehensions that Mr. LaRue was the chair of the Democratic Party, I don’t know if that should matter so much or not,” Stockford said. “This community is 75% Republican, and, let’s be frank, this is the swing seat on the library board.”

The council also approved on Monday bids to buy three 2023 GMC Sierra trucks from Hillsdale GMC for the Board of Public Utilities’ Water and Sewer Departments and the Department of Public Services. The city purchased the trucks for around $41,000 each and expects them to be delivered in about 10 weeks, according to city documents.

City Manager David Mackie said it was difficult to find fleet vehicles available for purchase with a low wait time for delivery.

“Hillsdale Board of Public Utilities wanted to give Hillsdale GMC a shot at the lowest bid since we had not used them before,” Mackie said. “So they gave the bid, and the dealership could get us the vehicles within a reasonable timeframe.”

The council also approved the purchase of a new police cruiser from Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids. The new cruiser will be the department’s first Chevrolet Tahoe, according to Police Chief Scott Hephner.