BELLE — Belle aldermen voted June 11 to appoint all nine applicants to the city’s Planning and Zoning Board following a discussion about citizen participation, board size and the appointment process.

The issue arose after officials reviewed city ordinances and determined the Planning and Zoning Board did not have enough members.

“After the last Planning and Zoning meeting we had, we went back and looked through ordinances and stuff, and we don’t have enough people on the Planning and Zoning now,” Mayor James (Pudd) Mitchell said. “We had some people step up and want to be put on it.”

Mitchell said that city ordinances recommend seven members for the board but allow for more.

“It says we should have seven people on that board, can have more if you want, but they recommend seven,” Mitchell said.

Before presenting his recommendations, Mitchell explained the role the mayor and board each play in the appointment process.

“It says that I can appoint, but council has to approve,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell then read the names of those who had expressed interest in serving and presented a recommended slate of seven members. His recommendations included Mike Dugan, Kevin Guffey, Ben Simpson, Randy Fry, Jeanette Struemph, Barb Howarth and Bev Abel. Linda Weida and Steve Bedwell were not included in Mitchell’s recommendation.

Alderman Rebecca Withouse questioned why two applicants would be excluded.

“We would only be excluding Linda Weida and Steve Bedwell then, correct?” Withouse asked.

When Mitchell confirmed that was correct, Withouse said that all interested residents should be given the opportunity to participate.

“My thinking, because the more people that we need for that seating, the harder it is for everybody’s schedule to work out,” Withouse said. “I feel like it may not be a bad idea to, I mean, citizen involvement is a great thing, and people want to be involved. I think they should have the opportunity to be included.”

She said a larger board could help ensure meetings continue even when some members are unavailable because of family, work or community commitments.

“That would give us a board of nine that would allow a couple people who had birthday parties, baseball games, sports games, things like that,” Withouse said. “It would still allow a number of people.”

Struemph, an alderman, expressed support for maintaining a seven-member board.

“I honestly feel that seven is planning. It’s a good number,” Struemph said. “There’s a reason why seven has been established.”

Alderman Seth Klein disagreed and encouraged the city to involve all residents willing to serve.

“If they all want to participate and be part of the town, and if that’s their part, planning and zoning, then you should encourage that,” Klein said.

Rather than voting on Mitchell’s recommended seven-member slate, Withouse made a motion to appoint all nine applicants.

“I’ll make a motion to approve all nine,” she said.

Klein seconded the motion.

During discussion, Mitchell asked for the other board member’s opinions.

“I mean, what’s the council feel?” Mitchell said.

Aldermen Steve Vogt and Struemph abstained from the vote.

“I’m going to abstain from this, because this is something that’s been here for years and years,” Struemph said.

“I feel the same,” Vogt said. “I’m going to abstain.”

Following the abstentions, Vogt told Mitchell, “Okay, you can break that.”

Withouse then sought clarification from City Attorney James Klahr on whether the abstentions created a tie vote. After Klahr asked for the question to be repeated, Withouse summarized the vote for him.

“So, Jeanette and Steve abstained. They do not want it to be all nine people that are interested in being on planning and zoning. I made a motion, Seth seconded it to accept all nine that are interested, basically anybody that wants to be on it,” Withouse said.

Klahr subsequently advised the board that abstentions are treated as no vote at all rather than votes against a motion. Because the only votes cast were in favor of the motion, the appointment of all nine applicants was approved without requiring any tie-breaking action by the mayor.

“Their votes count as ‘no vote.’ Sorry, not as a ‘no’ vote. As no vote at all,” Klahr said.

The motion passed, resulting in all nine applicants being appointed to the board. Mitchell later confirmed the outcome.

“All nine’s appointed. Yes,” Mitchell said.

Following the appointments, board members discussed allowing the Planning and Zoning Board to develop recommendations for staggered terms. City Attorney James Klahr advised that any recommendation should be returned to the Board of Aldermen for final approval.

The discussion then shifted to the issue of board terms. Klahr noted that Planning and Zoning Board members serve staggered terms so that the entire board does not come up for appointment at the same time.

“The whole point of having the staggered term is, in the future, you all wouldn’t have to make an appointment of eight or nine people all at once,” Klahr said.