Dan Middaugh was appointed to fill Blind River council’s vacant sixth seat at a special meeting Monday evening.
Coun. Middaugh won the appointment in a 4-2 vote over applicant Nathan Mutch, owner of the town’s Home Hardware. The vote came after both men spoke about what they felt their roles and wishes would be if appointed to the council position.
Coun. Middaugh is born and raised in Blind River he is a fourth-generation resident of the community and is employed at the Cameco uranium plant here.
In his address, he said the appointment would be his first to a council position and he looked forward to finding out how council works. As a Cameco supervisor said he deals with many different people. He is also president of the recreation committee at the plant, setting up events for employees.
He is also a qualified trainer in a variety of subjects at Cameco to teach people and help them to get better at their jobs and serves as a fire captain on the plant’s fire department.
“I’d like to learn what is involved with our town council and what you guys are actually responsible for because I have no real political background or municipal council background,” he said in his address to council. “I’d like to learn how the town operates from a council perspective because I see it as a town member and how your day-to-day decisions affect our town would be great to learn.”
The newly appointed councillor said he would like to be part of the younger generation on council and have the opportunity to have their ideas as part of decisions council makes.
He is interested in working on council’s efforts to find a new water source and improvements to recreational facilities.
After the presentations, council went into a closed session to deliberate on the two applicants.
Youth seemed to be a paramount theme from the four councillors who voted in open session to appoint Middaugh.
He will join Mayor Sally Hagman, deputy mayor Paula Summers and councillors Betty Ann Dunbar, Jennifer Posteraro, Jim Dunbar and Joe Connell.