Newly appointed Councilwoman Amy Planck, left, takes the oath of office Jan. 9. Planck spoke to council members at their first meeting of the year about her desire to be on council and was later voted to fill the seat formerly held by Mayor Alan Ausman, right.

Newly appointed Councilwoman Amy Planck, left, takes the oath of office Jan. 9. Planck spoke to council members at their first meeting of the year about her desire to be on council and was later voted to fill the seat formerly held by Mayor Alan Ausman, right.
Three new members joined Bethel Village Council at the first meeting of the year Jan. 9 and were sworn in by new Mayor Alan Ausman.

Two of the members, Jeremiah Hembree and Lucy Shepherd were elected as write-in candidates in the Nov. 8 election.

The other member, Amy Planck, was appointed by council at the Jan. 9 meeting after members heard from both Planck and former councilman Rus Whitley about why they would like to be on council.

“I submitted my application because I care about the village,” Planck said. “I believe we are at a healing point and I want to be here to help move the village forward.”

Planck said she has a degree in business and has both business experience and grant writing experience that she could contribute as a council member. She said her vision for the village is to see new businesses come in and old businesses thrive.

Current council members were able to question Planck, and Priscilla Johnson asked Planck if there is a conflict of interest because she is Bethel Police Chief Mark Planck’s sister.

“I think we are both professional people,” Planck said about potentially working with her brother. “And we understand the confidentiality of the rules.”

Planck also said she would seek the advice of current solicitor Julia Carney if she was questioning any issue where there was a conflict of interest.

Former Councilman Rus Whitley also spoke to council about his desire to have a seat on council again.

“I am familiar with what goes on here,” Whitley said. “I have quite a bit I can bring to the village.”

Whitley said he has experience in several fields that he could contribute to council, and he also said he enjoyed his time on council previously. Whitley lost his seat on council because he ran for mayor against Alan Ausman.

“You have to determine what’s best out of your heart when you make the decisions,” Whitley said about what he learned on council.

After hearing Planck and Whitley, Councilwoman Donna Gunn made a motion to appoint Planck as the new council member. Janice Ireton, Pricilla Johnson and Jeremiah Hembree also voted yes to appoint Planck while Lucy Shepherd voted no.

Planck was sworn into council and took her seat with the other members.

In addition to the swearing in of the new council members, Donna Gunn was also voted to be vice mayor at the meeting, and council voted to hire Melanie Reising as magistrate for the village of Bethel.

The next village council meeting will be Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m.