What looked to be a quiet organizational meeting of Avon city council to open the new year was instead a slightly longer affair with a change at the top.
Council-at-large was selected as the new council chairman, replacing . , who had been nominated as a possible chair by , remained as chairman pro tem, meaning he will act as council chairman when Pelfrey is absent.
Pelfrey was nominated by . He was voted for by McBride, and .
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In his first move as chairman, Pelfrey added an executive session to the meeting's agenda to discuss personnel issues, putting it before the vote on appointing the , a position held by Ellen Young since 1999.
Assistant clerk of council Gail Hayden came to the podium and spoke in support of Young, who is also the city's recycling coordinator.
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"She's professional, effective and a wonderful representative to the public," Hayden said.
After an executive session lasting more than an hour, Young was retained as clerk of council. Hayden was also retained.
The organizational meeting was followed by a work session. One of the upcoming issues is a change to the city employees' drug policy, adding synthetic marijuana and bath salts to the list of banned substances. It follows the passage of Ohio House Bill 64, which bans the possession and sale of synthetic marijuana and bath salts.
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