Changing of guard means abrupt changes in East Bethel

The voters wanted change last fall.

In East Bethel, they got it in a big way -- and without delay.

When the dust cleared Wednesday after the City Council met for the first time with its new majority, two city officials were replaced, another displaced and two major projects were suspended.

All was planned in the weeks before the meeting, without the knowledge of the two holdovers on the five-member council. The holdovers, Bill Boyer and Steve Voss, had been part of a very active lame-duck session that included bonding for a city sewer and water system, a project that was a major campaign issue.

While it was clear that the new three-member bloc had met privately to prepare for the meeting, they did not violate laws requiring public officials to do business in the open, said Mark Anfinson, a Minneapolis attorney and expert in open-meeting laws. The key detail: They weren't public officials until they were sworn in, 30 minutes before the meeting began.

"It's frustrating. It runs across the grain of the spirit of the law, but the spirit of the law is not what the law is. It's the letter of the law," said Anfinson, who has advised the Star Tribune on open-meeting matters.

The three new council members said they believed immediate and decisive action was needed.

Over the vociferous objections of Boyer and Voss, the council voted to replace City Administrator Doug Sell with David Schaaf, a longtime family friend and political mentor to Lawrence and his wife, Sharon, who also has sought public office.

City Attorney Jerry Randall was replaced by Mark Vierling, a former Schaaf colleague.

Filled hall, 3-2 votes

About 50 people filled the small council chambers Wednesday. The presiding city attorney called for quiet when the whispering became too loud among those trying to follow the action. Different factions broke into applause in response to council actions, and to bouquets and brickbats tossed during the public forum.

Voss and Boyer's frustration became increasingly apparent as the 3-2 votes went on. Each of Boyer's no votes increased in volume. He left the meeting after the majority voted to hire Schaaf as an interim city administrator.

Schaaf has no city administration experience, but the mayor said the new council members were impressed by his innovation and by the extensive contacts forged during eight years as mayor and council member in Oak Park Heights and as a two-term member of the Minnesota Senate. Schaaf, who said he was willing to stay at least a year, said he didn't think a broader search was necessary.

"It would be a waste of time and money," he said Friday, acknowledging his nontraditional résumé. "The council has spoken. They knew all these risks coming in."

The council went on to eliminate two part-time positions: assistant city administrator and human resources director, both held by Tammy Schutta. Finally, they suspended work on the municipal sewer and water project and on the Booster Park-Cedar Creek Trail until they review each project's financial viability. Plans to interview candidates for city commissions were postponed a week.

As for the open-meetings question, Mayor Lawrence said the group was advised on how to work within the law. He said they had approached the former council, but had been rebuffed. That's a claim that the holdover members dispute.

As the meeting broke up at about 11:15 p.m., Moegerle apologized that the proceedings were "not elegant" and expressed a hope that business would run more smoothly in the future.

But the air has yet to clear.

Like a feuding family that still must gather for Sunday dinner, the council is committed to a full workshop meeting next Wednesday.

Despite his early departure from this week's meeting, Boyer said he'll be there. So will Voss.

"I chose to run to serve the city, and I'm not going to bail," Voss said. "I'm the eternal optimist and I always expect the best from people, no matter who they are. That was probably the hardest thing last night, coming to the realization that I don't think that's going to happen. They certainly did not give anyone any indication of them operating any differently moving forward."