Council Postpones Vote on District 1 Seat

UPDATE (4:16 p.m.)—After three more rounds of deadlocked voting Tuesday, the Anne Arundel County Council again postponed filling the District 1 seat left vacant by Daryl Jones of Severn, who reported to federal prison less than a month ago.

Dating back to Feb. 16, the six-person council has gone 102 consecutive rounds splitting its votes between Mike Wagner and Peter Smith.

After 100 votes last week—the final 99 split between Wagner and Smith—the council delayed its decision until Tuesday afternoon. After three more rounds of ties, it unanimously approved a motion by councilman James Benoit (D-4th District) to delay the vote until the March 5 County Council meeting.

"I don't see at this time that there's been any movement ... I move we postpone the question to the 'other business' agenda item on March 5, 2012," Benoit said after three rounds of voting that went exactly the way it did last week.

Benoit and councilmen Jerry Walker (R-7th District) and Chris Trumbauer (D-6th District) voted for Smith. Councilmen Dick Ladd (R-5th District), John Grasso (R-2nd District) and Derek Fink (R-3rd District) voted for Wagner.

Many of the people in attendance at Tuesday's special session voiced surprise at the move, saying they hoped the council would have come to a decision.

Fink, chairman of the County Council, said he hoped the extra two weeks helps the council reach a majority vote.

"Hopefully by the first week of March we'll have a candidate with at least four votes—hopefully six," Fink told Patch after the meeting.

According to the county charter, the council has 30 days from the day they removed Jones— which is Wednesday—to find a replacement.

"Obviously we're not going to make it," Fink said, adding that the charter did not specify any repercussions for not filling the seat in time.

Fink noted that the even number of council members could make Tuesday night’s legislation more complicated.

"Hopefully it won't. A lot of votes are [usually] 7-0, but it's possible that we might [deadlock] on issues tonight," he said.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct the date of the previous vote. The vote occurred on Feb. 16. Patch regrets the error.