ROSSFORD – The City Council’s organizational
meeting turned contentious over the issue of who will fill a vacancy caused by the sudden death of a newly
re-elected councilman.Chuck Duricek died Thursday while on a family trip to Chicago.After his own
re-election as council president, Larry Oberdorf recommended that council fill the vacancy by soliciting
applications and then interviewing those candidates. This was done to fill the most recent vacancies. The
other option was to appoint the next-highest candidate in the six-way race for four seats. That would be
Robert Densic.Oberdorf said there was no precedent for appointing the next-highest vote-getter to a vacancy.
The most recent vacancies were filed by the application and review process.If council does not act within 30
days, it would be up to Mayor Neil MacKinnon to appoint someone to fill the vacancy.Two councilmen, Greg
Marquette and Dan Wagner, one of the candidates who outpolled Densic, spoke in favor of appointing Densic,
since he had campaigned for the job.Others who wanted to serve on council should have run for the seat,
Wagner said. Wagner said "I don’t agree with his politics" but that he was "next in
line."Caroline Eckel, who was originally appointed to fill a vacancy after William Verbosky was elected
mayor, said she was willing to wait until next Monday’s meeting to make a decision.Whoever is appointed will
serve two years until the next municipal election.But Robert Ruse said that the 30-day clock was clicking.
Council voted 4-2 to seek applicants, with Eckel hesitating before voting yes and Marquette and Wagner
dissenting.After the vote was taken, Oberdorf said he would resign as council president. "I see council
as very fragmented. Someone else can have this position."After the meeting, Duricek’s widow Pam Duricek
said she had attended to speak in favor of Densic being appointed, but there was no opportunity for the
public to speak at the meeting.She said Densic is "a smart and talented person who does his
research.""He had a passion for it like Chuck did."Densic, who attended the meeting, said he
was undecided whether to apply to fill the vacancy.A majority of council has experience with filling a
vacancy. Marquette noted he’d been originally appointed to council, and both Ruse and Staczek had applied
unsuccessfully to fill a vacancy on council when Jim Richards resigned. MacKinnon was appointed to fill that
vacancy. Duricek, who had already served previously on council, was appointed to council in 2009 following
the sudden death of Richard Kovach. He was elected to a full term later that year.Wagner noted in other
instances years had passed since last election. In this case, the election had just been held.Oberdorf
described his relationship with Duricek, who was a day shy of 60 when he died, as "adversarial friends
at times."The two were at odds most recently over issues involving the city’s continued membership in
TARTA and pay increases for members of council.Still, Oberdorf recalled their relationship dating back 40
years when they played Trivial Pursuit together.Oberdorf said he respected Duricek’s "thorough
researching of all council issues."