The Lexington Village Council held a special meeting Friday afternoon regarding the resignation of village president, Kristen Kaatz.
The council met at 3:00 p.m. today (Friday), May 2, with all council members present before an audience of over 20 local residents to acknowledge the resignation.
In a letter dated Wednesday, April 30, and officially received by the village clerk the next day, Kaatz says that the role has become untenable due to “[r]ecent decisions made by a majority of council members outside of public meetings” taking “the village in a direction contradictory to [her] leadership beliefs.”
It is currently unclear what decisions Kaatz is referring to, with the council and village president meeting on Monday, April 28 for a regular council meeting. Kaatz, who was first elected to the role in 2016, notes in her letter that, while she believes conflict can be beneficial, when “conflict only serves to provide a public spectacle, the benefit of conflict is lost.”
She closed her letter by saying, “It is my hope that my resignation serves as a warning for Village residents to hold their elected officials accountable.”
With Kaatz’s four-year term unfinished, the village council is tasked with appointing her replacement, with the appointee to serve until the next village election. Though Village President Pro Tem Peter Muoio is currently serving as president in the interim, according to Michigan law, the president pro tem does not automatically become village president upon the role’s vacancy.
No meeting to select the new president has been scheduled yet, with a notice to be posted to inform qualified electors in Lexington of the position.
Read the letter here:
