Rob Dufficy appointed to Libby City Council

The Libby City Council once again has six full seats with the appointment of Rob Dufficy, who fills the opening created by Gary Armstrong’s resignation in March.

Dufficy had applied for the appointment alongside William Holcomb and D.C. Orr. The three men were interviewed, and Dufficy selected, at a special City Council meeting held 6 p.m. Wednesday.

It was Dufficy’s second interview in front of the council — and Holcomb and Orr’s third — in recent weeks. All three applied to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation in January of Angel Ford. Hugh Taylor was appointed to fill that seat March 19 after he, Holcomb and Orr applied twice in a process that turned controversial when no one was nominated in a first round of applications and interviews.

After Dufficy, Holcomb and Orr were interviewed and no public comment was offered, Mayor Brent Teske asked council members for nominations. Taylor requested that the City Council vote on all three applicants. All five council members — Taylor, Gary Beach, Peggy Williams, Kristin Smith and Brian Zimmerman — voted in favor of Dufficy. Smith, Williams and Zimmerman voted in favor of Holcomb, with Beach and Taylor opposed; Taylor voted in favor of Orr, with the remaining four council members voicing opposition.

Teske swore in Dufficy before the meeting was concluded. Dufficy’s first meeting as a council member will be during the City Council’s next regularly scheduled meeting on May 7.

Dufficy, who told the City Council that he retired to Libby in 2006, previously spent three years on the Libby Library board, serving as president during the third year. He currently is one of three Libby Police Commissioners, a position he told the City Council in his previous interview that he would resign if appointed.