Bill Berendt came to the Sun City board of directors meeting August 19 planning to begin preparations for returning to the board next January as a newly elected member. He left the meeting as a member of the board starting immediately.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” he said after the board voted 4-2 to appoint him to fill the position vacated by the resignation last April of Eugene Rhodes.
The board began discussing on August 19 what to do for the rest of 2015 about the seat vacated by Rhodes earlier this year. Vacancies on the board during a term must be filled as soon as possible by a board vote. Board President Bonnie Bayser recommended that Steve Bytnar, one of the five 2016 election candidates, be appointed immediately to complete Rhodes’ term. But board member Bill Bendick made a formal motion to appoint Berendt, a former board president and long-time former member of the Finance Advisory Committee. The motion was seconded and approved by a 4-2 vote, with Ken Andersen, Dennis O’Leary, Bendick, and Bill Ziletti voting in favor, and Bonnie Bayser and Linda Davis voting no.
So Berendt will serve as a board appointee for the rest of 2015, and begin a one or two-year term at the annual meeting in January 2016. Bytnar, a newcomer to Sun City governance, will spend the rest of 2015 as a board candidate in an orientation mode and will be seated to a new term next January.
“Bill Berendt has been on the board before and has served on the finance committee, he is fully qualified to hit the ground running now as a board member, so let’s fill this vacancy now with him,” Bendick said.
While the board plans to conduct a member vote of acclamation on the five open board seats in January, yet to be decided is which of the five will serve one-year terms, and which will serve two-year terms. Board members indicated August 19 that this decision will be made by the five candidates in the next few weeks. Running for re-election starting in 2016 are Bonnie Bayser, Linda Davis, and Ken Andersen. Seeking new terms are Berendt and Bytnar.
Holdover board members whose terms are not up this year are O’Leary and Bendick.
