A Manitowoc alderman who resigned from the council now has his seat back.
Brett Vanderkin was re-sworn in last night (June 17th) during Manitowoc’s Common Council meeting after a 5-4 vote from the nine aldermen.
Vanderkin was up against another former alderman in Todd Lotz, in a second round of voting.
Two of the four aldermen who supported Lotz questioned Vanderkin’s address change issue.
Vanderkin says he resigned after his lawyers made a mistake in filling his address with the city.
But if his address is not in his aldermanic district, it automatically disqualified him.
While the council agreed that anyone is innocent until proven guilty on a separate criminal issue that involved Vanderkin, 4th District Alderman Jim Brey still questioned Vanderkin’s integrity about his address change.
“If I was found with this clerical error address that I was not living in my district, and I knew that I was in my district, I would have fought like hell to prove that I lived in my district,” he stated. “But he resigned. And to put it comfortably as Alderman Sitkiewitz said, he got caught.”
6th District Alderman Eric Sitkiewitz claimed that there were meetings that Vanderkin was attending and voting on issues when his address had been changed.
Sitkiewitz says while he understands that Vanderkin’s constituents wouldn’t vote for him to create that kind of trouble, he still has questions.
“Who’s going to believe Alder Vanderkin when he tells you where he lives now,” he voiced. “In a month from now, who’s going to believe him when he says where he lives.”
Sitkiewitz continued.
“Unfortunately, a track record creates a history of not being forthcoming in discussions on situations like this,” he explained. “So, I can appreciate that some people would like to see him back here. But I also can understand how somebody could say I can’t trust that individual to represent the city going forward.”
Seehafer News spoke with Vanderkin following his reappointment. He said he believes he can keep his constituents’ trust.
“I’ve had plenty of constituents reach out in support and say that they still support me and what I’ve been going through has been absolutely terrible,” he discussed. “Actually, it’s been kind of overwhelming the support I’ve been getting from my constituents regarding the whole situation. So, absolutely, I feel they still trust me 100%.”
One resident in the 1st district did speak against Vanderkin during the Committee of the Whole meeting that happened before the common council, but two people spoke in favor of having Vanderkin back on the council.
He was sworn in right away after a second council vote, although his district will be up for reelection in 2025.
Vanderkin said he’s not ready to commit to whether he will run for the seat again.
