BROOKINGS – With two sentences and a hitch in her voice, Patty Bacon announced her resignation from the Brookings City Council Tuesday evening.
“Mr. Mayor and fellow council members, it is with heavy heart that I am submitting my resignation from the Brookings City Council. It will be effective as of April 30, 2022,” Bacon said.
Wednesday morning, Bacon issued a press release with more details, saying it was a “difficult decision.”
“I have been living with an auto immune condition for a number of years, and it has progressed to the level that prevents me from giving the energy the council position deserves,” Bacon wrote.
Mayor Ope Niemeyer recognized Bacon’s service during the meeting.
“With a heavy heart, Patty, I appreciate the service that you’ve had for us and I know that we still have another good three and a half months to have you involved with our decision-making and part of our planning. You’ve been a very good council member,” Niemeyer said.
He mentioned the work Bacon has done on the Housing Commission.
“That got us a good start,” Niemeyer said, adding it was the foundation that would continue to be built on in the next couple years.
Bacon covered a few highlights in her press release.
During her tenure on the council, Bacon led the charge to address affordable housing by creating the Affordable Housing Task Force to identify the problem and propose solutions to address the issue, she wrote.
“Several projects are in various stages of development in the creation of affordable housing units in Brookings,” she wrote.
Along with other council members, Bacon faced the pandemic head-on with a temporary community shut down, a temporary mask mandate and continued measures to mitigate the impact of COVID on the community, she wrote.
“Those measures have kept Brookings’ numbers at the lower end of the scale through most of the pandemic,” she wrote.
“It has been a privilege to serve my community in this capacity for the past seven years, and it is difficult to make this decision. I hope to find other ways to serve the community I have made my home for the past 40 years. Brookings is indeed someplace special and has given my family opportunities not available in most communities in our area,” Bacon wrote.
Bacon confirmed after the meeting that she set the effective date of her resignation for April 30 to give people time to decide if they wanted to run in the April election. She said it didn’t make sense to appoint someone for just a few months.
With Bacon’s resignation, there will be four open council seats up for election this spring. Councilors Leah Brink and Holly Tilton Byrne’s seats are up for re-election in the regular rotation. Wayne Avery was appointed to fill the council seat held by Niemeyer when he was elected mayor last year. The remainder of Bacon’s term is for two years.
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
