By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The only vote the mayor gets, at least when it comes to the city of Great Bend, is to break a tie. In just his second meeting in that role, Alan Moeder had to play tiebreaker during Monday's council meeting as two councilmembers were nominated to serve as council president. Moeder's vote awarded the presidency to new councilmember Jay Luerman.
"At this point, we're going to elect president of the council," Moeder said. "The council president is a serving councilmember, elected by the members of the city council, to serve in the temporary absence of the mayor."
Rickee Maddox nominated Kevin Soupiset for the role, and Tina Mingenback seconded the nomination. Before a vote, Shelly Peacock nominated Luerman, with a pair of seconds. Maddox, Mingenback, and Soupiset voted in favor of Soupiset's nomination, and a late hand raise from Luerman put the matter in the hands of the mayor. Peacock, Gary Parr, Davis Jimenez, and Shelly Arnberger all voted in favor of Luerman.
As a reminder, the city council on Monday also passed Ordinance 4464, which moves meeting times from 6:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month at City Hall on Williams Street in downtown Great Bend.