Logan County Board Regular voting meeting
Nomination for new board member put on hold

 

[November 25, 2024] 

On Thursday, November 21st, the Logan County Board met for their regular November meeting. Among many others, one of the issues on the agenda was the nomination of J Lance Conahan to the board. A rundown of everything else that was covered in this meeting, including the 24/25 fiscal budget, will be included in another article at a later date.

Conahan’s nomination would be to fill the vacancy left by former board member Emily Davenport. Frequent readers of LDN’s reports on County Board meetings will likely recall that Davenport was forced to resign after she moved out of the district she was representing. These frequent readers will likely also recall that any nominee looking to fill that position would need to live in the same district and be a part of the same political party, Republican in this case.

This was the last issue of the night, and Chairman Michael DeRoss was just about to take the board to a vote to either approve Conahan’s nomination or not. Just before the vote was called, Vice Chairman Dale Nelson asked about the person that he had nominated, Mr. Tim Uphoff, and if they could not also bring him forward for consideration. Nelson shared that after the Workshop meeting where he inquired about why Uphoff was not being considered due to lack of evidence that he was Republican, he inquired with Uphoff who then informed Nelson that he has been Republican since 2016 and did vote in the last election.

DeRoss stated that this is not an election, and so there are not two nominees. He then reminded Nelson that the Chairman is the one who nominates, and the board will either vote to appoint them or not. DeRoss also shared that he did not disregard Uphoff. He then stated that he finds Conahan’s community engagement “admirable,” sharing that he often attends City Council meetings. LDN can also confirm that Conahan has been present for several committee and full board meetings for the County Board in the month of November.

Board member JR Glenn then asked DeRoss directly if he had spoken to Mr. Uphoff, to which DeRoss stated he has not. DeRoss immediately followed this up by stating that he also did not reach out to Conahan, as Conahan reached out to him. Glenn then stated he was concerned that if someone else who is qualified is interested they are not going to consider them. “It can’t be first in line, first nominated. We want the best people possible for this board,” stated Glenn.

DeRoss then took a moment to address Glenn’s concerns. “One of the things I would look for is initiative,” he stated. DeRoss shared that being on this board requires initiative. People on the board have to go home and “do the homework.” DeRoss continued by stating “I would think the guy that had the initiative to call and say ‘should I come to a meeting?’... is a good strike for a nominee.”

DeRoss then reiterated the need for the nominee to be a part of the same political party as the person they are replacing. He said that he did look into this and believes that Conahan should stay as the nominee.

Glenn then wanted clarification, stating “so you have not spoken with [Uphoff]. You don’t know if they know they can come [to a meeting]? You don’t know if they know the process? You don’t know if they know how this unfolds?” DeRoss responded, stating that he knows Uphoff can find his phone number. “What they know and what they don’t know can all be found with a bit of initiative.” Glenn asked if DeRoss took the initiative to contact Uphoff once he knew Uphoff was interested, to which DeRoss again said he had not. The position was posted and a letter was sent. Glenn stated that, since the word ‘initiative’ has been used a lot, he wanted to know what initiative was being taken to fill the vacancy.

Nelson then spoke again, stating that while he has no personal issue with Conahan, he wants to understand the process. He asked if he could have reached out to Uphoff and told him to come to meetings. He knew that Uphoff had sent in a letter of interest, but Nelson was waiting to see what DeRoss’s process was going to be for deciding on a nominee. DeRoss again stated that, after he could not confirm that Uphoff was a Republican, he did not go any further with considering him for the position. He also shared that 2024 voting records are not yet available.

Board member Jim Wessbecher then spoke, stating that, if you want to be a part of something like this, you should come to a meeting. Uphoff may have come to a meeting, saw what goes on, and decided that he does not want to join. Nelson quickly responded by stating that he had told Uphoff enough about the County Board and that he was interested.

Nelson then stated that, to fill vacancies in the past, more than one person would come before the board and share why they want to be on the board. Since this was not the process this time, it felt to him that only Conahan was being considered. Wessbecher then once again stated that Uphoff did not take the initiative to come to the meeting. “If he had been here, he would have had the chance to speak.”

Nelson stated that he was waiting on what the process was going to be. He also stated that he was caught off guard at the last Workshop meeting when Conahan’s nomination was announced. “If I had known that was happening that night… I would have called [Uphoff] and said ‘hey do you want to come up here and introduce yourself?” DeRoss stated that Conahan’s nomination was on the Workshop meeting’s agenda, and that this agenda was posted 48 hours in advance. Nelson stated that he did not read the agenda until the night before.

Board member Kathy Schmidt then spoke, remembering when Gil Turner was appointed. Turner and another man came before the board and spoke, and the board decided to appoint Turner. “That’s the way it’s been done,” she said. She also stated that the board has sixty days to fill the vacancy, and that it seems like this nomination is being “pushed through without being able to look at both people.”

Board member Keenan Leesman added to the discussion. He shared that he was also appointed to the board. He reached out to the chairman of the board at the time and was told what to do to be nominated. “If a letter of intent was submitted, then that would be no different than me, in this case, emailing the chair asking ‘what’s the next steps?’

DeRoss again shared that Uphoff was disqualified based on not being able to confirm his party affiliation. If this disqualification were removed, then he would withdraw his nomination for the moment. “Do understand that, if you disqualify on the first order, the second order doesn’t exist.” Schmidt stated that she was unsure what DeRoss meant, so he went into more detail. The first thing he checked for Uphoff was whether he lived in the correct district and his party affiliation. His residency checked out, but his party affiliation, again, could not be confirmed. He checked this through the State Central Committee’s database. After not being able to confirm Uphoff’s party affiliation, he looked for a definition of the term ‘party affiliation,’ only to determine that there is not one in Logan County’s statute. This led DeRoss to the election statute, where he found the process that is used for state representatives. Through this criteria, he determined that Uphoff was not qualified based on party affiliation.

Glenn then spoke again, stating that DeRoss’s decision to withdraw his nomination was “admirable” considering the new evidence that has come to light. He also stated that, since the board does not have any pressing issues to address at this time, they have the time to vet several candidates. He said that taking the time to do this will help them be “a board of inclusion rather than a board of exclusion.”

Logan County Clerk Theresa Moore then asked if she could make a comment, to which DeRoss said she could. Moore is the election authority in the county. She stated that the State Board of Elections has told her office that there is no real clear definition of party affiliation. “It’s more about what they have not done in the last year… as a party affiliation. They haven’t attended the caucus of a different party, signed a petition of a different party.”

With this new information, the board then came to the conclusion that Uphoff should still be qualified to be nominated. Answering a question from Glenn, Moore stated that this is the process that the county should have been using to consider people for nominations since at least 2007.

[Matt Boutcher]