UPDATED: Ivan Imm Selected to Northfield City Council

UPDATED: 10 p.m.

Ivan Imm, take your seat on the Northfield City Council.

A member of the city’s planning commission, Imm beat out eight other candidates to fill the remaining year of Kris Vohs’ term as an at-large member of the council. The seat is up for election in 2012.

The council voted 4-2 to bring Imm aboard over fellow finalist Joe Gasior. Mayor Mary Rossing and Councilor Rhonda Pownell voted in the minority.

Supporters of Imm cited his experience on the Planning Commission, as well as years of involvement in municipal government elsewhere, in backing his candidacy.

Councilors Betsey Buckheit and Susie Nakasian pointed to his working knowledge of the city’s Comprehensive Plan and other planning documents as a boon for the council.

Rossing and Pownell—who defeated Gasior in 2008 in a four-person special election for her at-large seat on the council—backed Gasior because of his business experience and work with volunteer organizations in the city.

“We already have three people on the council (Buckheitz, Nakasian and Councilor Erica Zweifel) who are well-versed in our planning documents,” Rossing said. “We need someone on the council who would bring a different skill set and challenge us.”

What’s more, Rossing said, the loss of Imm on the Planning Commission would be detrimental to Northfield.

While the last vote came out in favor of Imm, the councilors agreed both finalists would make strong councilors.

Gasior told Northfield Patch that he's leaning toward running for Imm's at-large seat in 2012, but noted there are still several months until he needs to make up his mind and that there could be other opportunities for him in either city government or other organizations.

“I think being involved in your community is important, regardless of what role you end up filling in or choosing to do," said Gasior, who is involved in the Boy Scouts and was part of the board that selected the site for the new .

“I was grateful for the opportunity to even put myself forward," he said of the council opening. “I wish Ivan well."

The final vote on Monday ended what could be called an efficient selection progress for the soon-to-be-vacated seat.

Each of the nine candidates—Imm, Gasior, Thomas J. Bisel, David DeLong, Jon Denison, Joe Gasior, Charles Michael Hayes, David Ludescher, Sean Daniel Hayford Oleary, and Don McGee—were interviewed by the council for 15 minutes.

A series of three straw polls followed. Vohs—who officially steps down from the council Dec. 31—voted in just the first poll.

“You people are going to serve with them, so I will vote just once,” he said.

After the results of the first poll were announced, Vohs left the council chambers.

In the first two polls, councilors voted for up to three candidates apiece. The results of both of those polls came out the same: Imm and Gasior each had four votes, and Bisel, Hayford Oleary and McGee finished with three apiece.

In effort to gain a third candidate to to join Imm and Gasior atop the council’s list, a third straw poll involving Bisel, Hayford Oleary and McGee was conducted, with each finished with two votes apiece.

The council then decided to deliberate the merits of just Imm and Gasior.

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Ivan Imm on Monday night was selected by the as its newest member.

Imm beat out Joe Gasior in the final selection with a 4-2 vote. Mayor Mayor Rossing and Councilor Rhonda Pownell dissented. 

Seven other candidates were eliminated through a straw poll.

There was a need for a new member after Councilor Kris Vohs submitted his resignation from the Council, effective Dec. 31, 2011. Imm starts on the Council on Jan. 1 and will serve through Dec. 31, 2012. The at-large position is up for election in 2012.

Vohs, who served 11 years on the Council, abstained from voting beyond the first round and left before the final straw poll took place.

Candidates were, in alphabetical order:

• Thomas J. Bisel
• David DeLong
• Jon Denison
• Joe Gasior
• Charles Michael Hayes
• David Ludescher
• Sean Daniel Hayford Oleary
• Ivan Imm
• Don McGee