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For the week of April 2 - 8, 2003

News

Simon to replace P&Z commissioner

Mayor cites preference for term limits


"As a matter of policy, I don’t like to have somebody who serves more than two full terms."

ED SIMON, Ketchum mayor


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

For the second time in two years, Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon is declining to reappoint a planning and zoning commissioner willing to serve another term.

Simon said Monday he will nominate retired Ketchum Fire Department Capt. Ron Parsons for the P&Z seat formerly occupied by Ketchum businessman Peter Gray. Gray’s three-year term expired April 22. He also served two years after being appointed to the commission in 1998.

Simon said he would nominate Parsons at the city council’s April 7 meeting. The nomination is subject to city council confirmation.

In a similar move, Simon declined last winter to reappoint Ketchum architect Susan Scovell, who also had been on the P&Z for five years.

"As a matter of policy, I don’t like to have somebody who serves more than two full terms," Simon said.

However, P&Z Chairman Peter Ripsom said he believes historical perspective and continuity on the board is important. He said he and Commissioner Rod Sievers will now be the only two members of the board who have a long-term, working understanding of the city’s zoning laws and comprehensive plan.

In fact, Gray, Ripsom and Sievers helped write the city’s current comprehensive plan.

Commissioners Harold Johnson and Greg Strong, both Simon appointees, have been on the board about a year.

"With Peter (Gray) being re-appointed, I was going to resign June 1," Ripsom said. "Now I don’t know what I’m going to do. The future is unclear at this time."

Councilman Baird Gourlay said Parsons is an "excellent choice" but qualified his appraisal of the mayor’s decision. Gourlay said he, too, would prefer to retain P&Z members who have learned the ins and outs of the city’s laws and guidelines.

"I differ with the mayor on this, and I told him so," Gourlay said. "I think it’s unfortunate that in particular Peter Gray isn’t being re-appointed. But it’s the mayor’s choice."

 

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