State College Borough Council appoints new councilwoman after 7 rounds of voting
After seven rounds of voting, several hours of discussion and two council meetings, the State College Borough Council has finally appointed a new council member — Katherine Oh Yeaple, who’s lived in the community for 12 years.
She will replace Dan Murphy, who resigned last month and whose term runs through 2021.
“Katherine Oh Yeaple will be our next member of council,” council President Jesse Barlow said at the end of Wednesday night’s meeting. “She will be sworn in as soon as we can swear her in.”
Wednesday’s appointment did not come easily, and Yeaple wasn’t considered a front-runner early on. The appointment was decided by a six-person vote by the council, and the council was mainly stuck on two other candidates in Jeffrey Kern and Ezra Nanes.
After those two candidates reached just three votes apiece — four was needed for a majority — for seven straight rounds, council members decided to take a different tack by voting for more candidates. (They were allowed to vote “yes” on as many candidates as they wanted, though most simply stuck with Kern and Nanes.)
Nanes — who ran for state Senate — and Kern, a former borough council member, were the only candidates to earn nominations in every voting round. But, while council was split on the positives and negatives of the two, there were few critics of Yeaple.
Councilwoman Theresa Lafer even appeared to offer a nod toward Yeaple’s way at the start of Wednesday’s meeting, which was a continuation from Monday.
“I will point out there are people on our list that fulfill, in one way or another, everyone’s desire for new young life, for experience, for government experience in general, for new ideas,” Lafer said. “And I think we need to be a little more flexible.”
Yeaple’s mix of experience appeared to win over the council members. She earned her nursing degree from Penn State in 2015 and currently works as a registered nurse at Penn State Health services, but she also earned a master’s in Urban Planning from Columbia in 1995. As someone who’s familiar with health and wellness, transportation and education, she appeared to bring a unique perspective.
But, at the start of the seventh overall round of voting, the second on Wednesday, it looked as if the council might end up with another deadlock.
Kern, Thomas Dougherty III and Nanes started off the nominations, and all received just three votes apiece. Yeaple, who never received more than two votes Monday, appeared on her way to coming up short after she started off with one yes vote and one no vote — but then ended with four straight yes votes.
Councilman Peter Marshall revised his no vote to a yes vote to officially make the appointment unanimous. So, after about four hours of council meetings, and a number of 3-3 ties, the council had agreed upon a candidate 6-0.
If the council was unable to make an appointment by midnight Oct. 1, a judge would’ve instead made the decision — an outcome the council seriously discussed Wednesday. But, with Yeaple earning the needed votes, she’ll officially become the borough’s newest councilwoman as soon as she’s sworn in, which a spokesman reiterated would occur “ASAP.”
The next scheduled borough council meeting is 7 p.m. Oct. 5.
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 7:08 PM.
