Two council vacancies filled
Travis Sears returns to the City Council, joined by Kyle Frans, as Mayor Dave Bauer’s appointments to fill two vacancies approved by current council members at the regular meeting on Sept. 3.
Sears fills a Ward I vacancy less than a year after not seeking reelection in November 2018, however, he served on the Planning Commission for the first half of 2019. He previously served a total of three council terms between 2002-2018. Sears, who works for Union Bank and Trust in Lincoln, will now finish out this term to 2020.
Frans is a Hastings College graduate and substitute teacher with Crete Public Schools, where his wife is the assistant middle school principal. He is active in several community and church activities. Frans will finish his council term to 2022.
Sears fills the vacancy left when Bauer, then a council member and Council President, succeeded Roger Foster as Mayor upon Foster’s death on July 31. The Ward III vacancy was left by Chuck Vyhnalek, who died on Aug. 3.
Bauer will fulfill the mayoral term to 2022 and officially took the oath of office at the Aug. 6 regular council meeting. At that time, Ward II Council Member Dale Strehle was nominated and approved as the new President, or chairperson, of the City Council.
Upon notice of the vacancies, Mayor Bauer and the City Council advertised in August for interested citizens to fill those seats. Candidates must be registered voters and reside in the Wards in which each vacancy occurred. Bauer nominated an applicant to each vacancy in Ward I and Ward III, who were then presented to the council for approval on Tuesday.
The process of succession and filling vacancies created during a term in the offices of mayor and the city council is provided for by state statute and city ordinance (Chapter 1, Article 2).
