Warrenton is still without a permanent alderman for the Ward 1 spot after aldermen voted to reject the appointment of Jack Crump to the seat by a 3-2 vote during a special meeting June 16.

During the board’s June 16 meeting, Mayor Eric Schleuter recommended the appointment of current Ward I Alderman Jack Crump to the seat he has been holding as a holdover from his previous term, due to the death of Cody Turner. This appointment was made after a brief question and answer session where Schleuter asked a series of questions of Crump and the other potential candidate Frank Cusumano.

Both candidates answered a series of three questions. Cusumano went first.

Schleuter asked both candidates the same first two questions and then a third question that differed by candidate.

The first question Schleuter asked was, “What are the things you see that are the needs of Warrenton currently?”

Cusumano said, “I feel that this city is growing and there is no stopping it. So, I think we need government that is transparent and believes in accountability.”

The second question was, “What do you see as the future direction for Warrenton?”

Cusumano said, “The direction is at the will of the people, what they want to see. That is what I am seeking the seat for is to answer the will of the people.”

The final question, which was specifically directed at Cusumano, was asking him what he meant by the silent majority.

Cusumano said, “It is an old term, but I look at the voting polls and results. This city has got close to 10,000 if not more than 10,000 people and if you look at the voting turnout it is probably less than 15 percent, and of that 15 percent, especially in Ward I it’s 50 percent. So 7.5 percent of the people speak up for the other 93 percent. And I think the 93 percent are interested in their city, they just don’t speak up, and that’s why stepped up.”

Schleuter then asked Crump the same first two questions.

Crump said, “The things I see as needed in the city of Warrenton is good communication between the board members and with the city staff, we need to continue that. The needs, I think we really need to look at public safety, the streets being painted, the streets being taken care of, infrastructure being built correctly. The city is going to be growing and moving forward. So how do we keep up with that? How do we stay ahead of that? I also think the city needs to look forward as in more property up north for citizens.

The second question, Crump said the city needed to be focused on moving forward.

The third question specific to Crump was about Crump’s attendance at board meetings during November and December.

Crump said he has a second job as a Santa on the Polar Express for 45 days. He said he only missed three board meetings last year, but he is there the majority of the time for the rest of the year.

After the questions were answered, Schleuter said that he spoke to people in the community and that while he heard there were people who didn’t want Crump back in as an alderman, there were others who supported him being back in. Schleuter said there were people who didn’t care either way.

Schleuter then nominated Crump to the position, however aldermen Brandon Lang, Josh Chandler and Christine Wait voted against the appointment while aldermen Larry Corder and Roger Romaker voted for the appointment. As Crump was the nominated alderman he did not take part in the vote.

After the denial, Attorney Bradley Pryor told Schleuter that the appointment authority remains his and that the mayor could make another appointment or if he does not Crump would continue in the position by right as an incumbent

Schleuter then brought up issues relating to the nomination. He said he was “disheartened” that some aldermen were making phone calls behind people’s backs pushing certain agendas. He didn’t name names, but said he felt it was a shame.

Later, during the regular board meeting Corder also brought up a transparency issue on the board, mentioning that some member of the board had set up a private meeting with Crusoe, the developer of the Warrenton data center without speaking with anyone else. He seconded the mayor’s opinion from earlier that there was a lot of toxicity on the board.