Troy Council appoints T.J. Boswell as newest member

The Troy City Council appointed T.J. Boswell as the newest member of the council during a special meeting on Tuesday.

Though Council member Shawna Kelsey was unable to attend the meeting, council member Joe Arts, who resigned due to health issues, was able to attend, giving the council a quorum.

Along with Kate Arpin, Boswell was one of only two applicants for the position.

Mayor Dallas Carr, who could not vote but participated in the interview by asking questions of the candidates, congratulated both candidates for the position on stepping up to serve their community when so many others did not.

While Carr acknowledged that Arpin’s only having lived in Troy for six months worked in Boswell’s favor when the council made its choice, he thanked her for what she does in the community already, and her interest in doing even more.

“You stepped up. Nobody else did, and there’s a lot of people been here longer than T.J. that sit on their hands,” he said.

During the interview process, the council asked both candidates a series of questions regarding their experiences with budgets and grants, their views on whether the council should have the power to sell property held in trust for a specific purpose without a general vote from residents, and how they would deal with differences of opinion.

In both cases, Arpin and Boswell said they had familiarity with having to makes books balance, Boswell from a supervisory role at work, and Arpin from owning her own business and from her time on the Madison County Planning Board.

Arpin said she has experience dealing with grants while working with the Lincoln County Conservation District and an office that depends on grant funding to operate. For Boswell, his grant experience came from his time on the Troy Volunteer Fire Department.

Both candidates also had similar things to say about the importance of getting along well with other board members and handling disagreements in a civil way.

The primary point they differed on was the matter of the disposition of property.

Council member Chuck Ekstedt asked both candidates their opinions on an ordinance that had been tabled recently by the council for further discussion and possible revision.

The ordinance as it was first presented would allow the council to sell land that has been dedicated to the public for a specific use without sending the question to a general vote by all city residents.

It would also increase the level of scrutiny and public input required for the city council to sell other land held by the city, and the council had discussed revising the ordinance to keep that part, but continue to require an election to sell property held in trust for a specific purpose.

Arpin said her concern was making sure that any change in the rules did not affect questions already being discussed. “It’s important the public knows the rules before we need to use the rules.”

“As long as the rules are set in place before there’s something to consider,” she said. “You don’t step up to bat thinking there’s three strikes, and all of a sudden there’s only two.”

Boswell said his biggest concern is safety, and that the council should be able to make decisions in the public interest without having to wait months, especially if the situation is one where months could either lose a potential business or put people at risk.

“The way I see this is that, if a decision needs to be made, it needs to be made,” he said.

Boswell said that he does not know the frame of mind in which a decision was made 100 years ago, and cannot predict all the situations a council will face 100 years from now.

“I think every situation has to be weighed and balanced and researched,” he said.