The Culver Town Council members appointed a new president during their first meeting of the year Tuesday night.
Councilman Bill Hamm nominated Bill Githens to remain as president of the council. After no response from any other council member, Githens seconded the nomination. Githens went on to read a statement on why he would like to continue in his leadership of the council and discussed his residential history in Culver and his background. Following his statement, the council voted 2-3 to keep Bill Githens as president with council members Bill Cleavenger, Sally Ricciardi and Rich West voting no and Bill Githens and Bill Hamm voting yes.
Councilman Rich West then made a motion to nominate Bill Cleavenger as the president of the Culver Town Council which was seconded by Sally Riccardi. Cleavenger, Ricciardi and West voted in favor of the motion with Githens voting against the motion and Hamm voting “present”. With a majority vote, Cleavenger took over as president and he thanked Githens for his leadership for the past two years.
Cleavenger nominated Rich West to serve as vice president with Sally Ricciardi seconding the motion. The motion was approved with a unanimous vote.
Later in the meeting during council issues, Bill Hamm stated that he would not be seeking a full term as a councilman in the 2023 Municipal Election. He was selected by caucus in April 2021 to fill the unexpired term of Ginny Bess Munroe when she left her council seat to take over as Culver Town Manager. He stated that he wanted to have more time to travel, but will continue to serve until the term expires at the end of the year.
