Buhler school board faces second vacancy as at-large member Shank resigns; replacement timeline not in minutes
Minutes of both August special meetings carry a Sept. 12 date in the footer and were not posted until Sept. 16.
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Sign up freeA second Buhler USD 313 board seat will be filled by appointment rather than by voters after at-large member Chris Shank resigned and the board voted 6-0 Thursday, Aug. 27, to adopt a vacancy resolution. Shank held Position 7, the at-large seat, which represents the whole district rather than one board district. According to the minutes of the Aug. 27 special meeting, he submitted his resignation to Board Clerk Wendy Neill on Aug. 24.
That meeting lasted three minutes, called to order at noon at Union Valley Elementary School and adjourned at 12:03 p.m. The resolution was the only action item, taken up under an agenda heading, "Board Vacancy Interviews," though the minutes record no interviews. Four of the six sitting members took part by phone — Board Vice President Tim Lackey, Jessica Goering, Kristen Armstrong and Mike Green — while Board President Monte Cross and Todd Carr attended in person. Carr moved to adopt and Armstrong seconded; the minutes record no dissent and no public comment. The same minutes item identifies the measure two different ways: as Resolution 08-27-26 in the recommendation to the board, and as Resolution 08-27-915 in the motion that carried.
Shank's resignation reached the clerk the same day the board filled its first vacancy — at interviews Citizen Journal reported the board had scheduled for Aug. 24. According to the Aug. 24 minutes, the board interviewed two candidates — Armstrong and Matthew Atherton — at that special meeting Monday, Aug. 24. The board then voted 6-0 by roll call, with Shank voting yes, to appoint Armstrong to the seat left open by Laura Meyer Dick's resignation.
The document is inconsistent about which numbered seat Armstrong holds: the agenda item is headed as an appointment to fill Position 6, while the motion text appoints her to the Position 5 vacancy until January 2030, when the open term expires. The district's own vacancy notice of July 13 identified the open seat as Position 5.
Shank's exit returns the seven-member board to six sitting members, the same size it was before Armstrong's appointment. The Aug. 27 minutes state that the resolution "provides the timeline and procedure for filling the vacant board seat," but they reproduce neither. They name no applicants, no successor and no expiration date for the Position 7 term, unlike the January 2030 date recorded for Armstrong's seat. Citizen Journal has asked Neill for the resolution text and will report the application deadline and appointment date when the district provides them.
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