Duluth City Council Elects New President

Joel Sipress was voted as city council president for 2017.

Duluth, Minn.-The Duluth city council voted Joel Sipress as their president for 2017. The selection usually comes without a lot of fanfare, but this year brought some added interest to the council chambers.

Councilor Noah Hobbs is on his first term on the council and was also vying for the seat.

The city council was clearly divided on the issue, as the first vote came to a tie. Councilor Russ was absent.

Sipress will serve the council as president for the next year. Councilor Elissa Hansen will serve as vice president.

Councilor Howie Hanson said that he appreciated the discussion and that maybe a new ordinance should be considered regarding the role of council president. Councilor Jay Fosle said that it really doesn’t matter who presides over the seat.

“Your obligation is to oversee the meetings and empower all councilors in a fair and even handed manner and that’s difficult to do if you run on a platform of we should do this and we shouldn’t do that,” said Sipress.

Outgoing president Zach Filipovich said he was proud to serve as president, that he enjoyed it and will miss it and said that he hoped he served it with grace and fortitude.