Erie Mayor Joe Schember will cast a tie-breaking vote that will appoint Mel Witherspoon to a vacant seat on Erie County Council.
Schember said is doing so in the wake of City Council’s 3-3 tie vote Wednesday on a resolution, sponsored by Councilman Ed Brzezinski, to appoint Witherspoon to the seat vacated by the January 2023 resignation of former Councilwoman Liz Allen.
Some council members and citizens opposed Witherspoon’s appointment in part because he recently left City Council in December because of city term limit rules, and council had already launched a public application process regarding the vacant seat.
City Council is required to appoint someone to the seat before Feb. 3. If City Council fails to do so, the tie could be broken by Erie Mayor Joe Schember, under the state’s Third Class City Code, or the matter could be decided by the Erie County Court of Common Pleas.
City Council was prepared to conduct interviews Tuesday with 13 city residents who previously expressed interest in the vacant seat. Council President Jasmine Flores directed City Clerk Laurie Watson to set up the interviews, saying she prefers the kind of public application/interview/selection process council has used in the past to fill vacancies.
Schember had said he wanted City Council to make the final decision.
However, Schember told the Erie Times-News on Friday that he is convinced that City Council members are “dug in” regarding the appointment of Witherspoon and that is likely not going to change.
He also doubts a different consensus candidate would emerge during a public selection process.
“There are three votes for Mel, and three that won’t change their minds who oppose him,” Schember said. “Instead of having this drag on, I am exercising the tie-breaking vote.
I didn’t want to do this, “ Schember said, “but this needs to be resolved.”
Brzezinski, who won re-election in the Nov. 8 municipal election, also won a two-year seat that was also on the ballot because of Allen’s resignation.
As a result of Brzezinski’s dual wins, City Council is now required to appoint someone to serve in the former Allen seat between now and Jan. 1, 2026.
City Solicitor Ed Betza said he anticipates that Witherspoon will take the oath at next regular City Council meeting, scheduled for Jan. 17, “and be seated at that time.”
Flores called it “unfortunate” that Schember decided to break the tie, especially since council had moved quickly to set up Tuesday’s public interviews.
That session will now be canceled, Flores said.
Besides Witherspoon, the applicants included Susannah Faulkner, who recently spent 10 months on City Council as an appointee in the seat once held by Allen; and former Councilman Michael Keys, who lost his re-election bid in November.
Other applicants include Erie residents Steve Azzato; Timothy Bordewicz; Steven Maynard; James Ozechoski; Brandon Penn; Armand Rocco; Colin Russ; James Santo; Sheila Woeger and Logan Wurst.
“The mayor stated publicly that he didn’t want to get involved in this, and then he makes this decision,” Flores said.
“We were moving very quickly, intentionally, to make sure this appointment would be made before the next City Council meeting,” Flores said. “Whether or not that person was Mel, the process wsa going through.
“The mayor thinks no one would have changed their minds,” Flores continued. “But I think that after going through all the interviews and having discussions about the candidates, some minds would have changed. But now, we’ll never know.”
This is a developing story. Return to GoErie.com for updates.
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on X at @ETNflowers.