The Yuma City Council has two seats to fill following the resignations of Luke Goeglein and Bryson Chrismer.
Both submitted their resignations shortly before the July 7 council meeting, so it was not brought up during that meeting.
The council held a discussion during this past Tuesday’s meeting about moving forward with filling the vacancies.
Goeglein had been on the council since late in 2017. He was first appointed by the council to fill the late Tony Harms’ seat, then ran for a full four-year term in the April 2018 election. He also was Mayor Pro-Tem, which meant he ran the meetings if the mayor was ever absent.
He told the Pioneer he resigned because it became too much of a distraction on a daily basis, referring to calls, texts and people stopping by his office to discuss city business.
Goeglein acknowledged that is all part of being on council but it became too much to handle.
“Can’t tell you how many hours I dedicated over the last two and a half years, especially this last year,” he shared. “For many months it was 10-15 hours a week of extra stuff on top of the actual council meetings.”
He said he needed to refocus on his job, family and himself, adding he appreciated the opportunity to serve and he truly does love Yuma.
Chrismer was first appointed by the council to fill a vacancy created when Swehla was appointed mayor after Joe Harper resigned. He was elected to a full four-year term in this past April’s election.
He said he agreed that being a council member had become time consuming, “especially over the past year, it’s been extreme with the phone calls.”
Chrismer said he did not have any issues with anyone on the council, but felt he could not represent the people of Yuma like he said he wanted to when first appointed to the board. He said he did not want to get into details, and it was a variety of issues.
“It’s just not feasible for me right now to stand up for the things I said I would do when I first got on the council,” he said.
Mayor Ron Swehla told the Pioneer that “both Luke and Bryson brought valuable information and experience to the city.”
