Midnight, August 25, 1994 : Vic Smith, new Mayor of Erie

The following is a history of Vic Smith's becoming Mayor in August 1994, and is taken completely from public records.

Regular Erie Municipal elections were held April 5, 1994 with the following results:

For Mayor:
For Trusteee (3 seats available):

New Trustees Sisk and Haglin joined current trustees Langerak, Morgan, Keith, and Smith along with Mayor Woodruff. At the regularly scheduled Erie Board of Trustees meeting on August 25, 1994, two items were added to the agenda at the start of the meeting (changing the agenda is permitted at that time):

The board discussed the first two agenda items until 11:20PM, at which time Item #3 was considered. Mayor Mike Woodruff took the floor and stated, in effect, that it had been very good working with the town staff and residents of Erie over the years but that he was moving to Oklahoma for business reasons. He then resigned as Mayor of Erie and immediately left the meeting. (By state law, the Mayor Pro Tem [Trustee Morgan at that time] becomes acting Mayor when the current mayor is not available). It is important to note that there had been absolutely no public notification of the Mayor's resignation whatsoever.

It is quite plausible that Mr. Woodruff made a quick personal decision to leave Erie. It is also important to note that there was nothing illegal about his timing or method of departure. However, evidence indicates that Mr. Woodruff had known at least a few days in advance that he would be leaving Erie. Less than a week before, an Erie citizen by chance had met a new couple moving into Old Town, and the newcomers stated that they were moving into the house currently occupied by Mr. Woodruff, who was renting at the time. One also might expect that as a renter, Mr. Woodruff was required to give his landlord advance notice of his intent to vacate. Subsequent comments by both Mayor Smith and and Trustee Morgan were to verify that advance notice of Mayor Woodruff's departure was available, but not to the public.

After Mr. Woodruff left, the Board of Trustees came to agenda item #4, Board Comments. Trustee Morgan took the floor and declared that it was important for Erie to have a new mayor without delay. Trustees Sisk and Haglin stated that any action of the Board should wait until the public was notified and the opening could be posted, per normal vacancy procedures. Trustee Keith stated that the Board should wait at least until Monday, but Trustee Morgan made a motion to appoint Trustee Vic Smith as the new Mayor of Erie. The motion was seconded, and Vic Smith was elected Mayor of Erie at 11:45PM by a 4-2 vote, Trustees Sisk and Haglin voting against.

The next day Erie citizen Reed Schrichte distributed around town a rather strident flyer criticizing the appointment of the "Midnight Mayor". At the next regular Board of Trustees meeting on September 8, another Erie citizen questioned (one might say interrogated) Mayor Smith about the events of August 25. The following excerpts are quoted directly from the transcript of their exchange...

Mayor Smith: So, first off, I want to say that what we did was legal. Secondly, what we did has historical precedent and is common in the town of Erie.
Mayor Smith: The point that was made then was that someone had to be at the helm.
Mayor Smith: Further, I'd like to talk to the reason you've come up here to talk to us, and that is that a flyer went around town crying banana republic, crying fix, and all that. I want to tell everybody in this room exactly what happened, so that you don't have to rely on the conjuring of a mind, of a mind...
Citizen: A what did you say?
Mayor Smith: Of another person, another mind, conjuring, magic, smoke and mirrors, that's what I'm talking about. What happened exactly is Mike Woodruff went on vacation in Oklahoma, made a decision to make it his home - like that - came back and Mike told me, Mike and I spoke. He said, and he told me what he was going to do. We also discussed who would be the best person to fill the position of Mayor. Now, I'm certain, or at least pretty certain that Mike talked to other trustees and to other citizens that he considered friends.
Citizen: He talked to all of these?
Mayor Smith: Four of us. He talked to me and he asked me not to say anthing about it to anybody else.
Citizen: Did he talk to to (Trustee) Sisk?
Trustee Sisk: No
Mayor Smith: At any rate, Mike - I considered that Mike's personal business - he asked me not to say anything to anybody else, and I didn't. To raise that to the level of a conspiracy says more about the mind that sees a conspiracy than it does about the Board of Trustees. Fact of the matter, there was no conspiracy.
Mayor Smith: I consider Mike Woodruff as a very good friend of mine, perhaps my best friend. He talked to me privately and he asked me to keep it a secret. I did so.

Conspiracy: 1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, treacherous, or evil act. 2. A group of conspirators. 3. A combining or acting together, as if by evil design. 4. Law. An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or to accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action. American Heritage Dictionary

By March 1995 aforementioned Erie citizen Reed Schrichte had circulated a petition recalling the Mayor of Erie, and obtained enough signatures to force an election for Mayor. The grounds on which the recall was sought were as follows:
"The resignation of Erie's mayor presents us with a tough choice. On one hand, we think that this is a time of exciting possibilities and great potential for the Town which can benefit everyone. However, we feel it is very important at this time that the Mayor of Erie be an elected official, not an appointed one. Many decisions are being made which will have a dramatic long-term effect on the character of our town, and the mayor must have a clear mandate from the voters before embarking on an unprecedented expansion of the Town. We also feel it is very important to have a Mayor who keeps citizens truthfully informed about expansion plans and actions; who involves citizens in these plans and seeks out and respects their opinions, even when they differ; who acts in the best long-term interests of the Town as a whole and not a particular faction or special interest; and who will conduct himself with the dignity and respect befitting the office of Mayor of Erie. The Town's citizens must have ultimate control over the Town's future, and the wishes of the majority must be determined through the electoral process."

The recall election was scheduled for April 11, 1995. The first ballot question was: "SHALL VICTOR SMITH BE RECALLED FROM THE OFFICE OF MAYOR?". If a majority of voters answered in the affirmative, the second ballot question asked who should succeed Mr. Smith as Mayor of Erie: two names were placed on the ballot as Mayoral candidates, Reed Schrichte and Tammy Thomas.

The votes on the first ballot question were as follows: The votes for the second ballot question were irrelevant and were not tallied. Mr Smith continued on as Mayor of Erie, was re-elected at the regular Erie municipal election in April 1996, and re-elected again in 1998. 1