Houghton City Council members Virginia Cole, Philip Foltz and Brian Irizarry are sworn in by Clerk Ann Vollrath during Tuesday’s organizational meeting. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — After two years out of the post, Bob Backon was elected as Houghton’s mayor during Tuesday’s organizational meeting of the Houghton City Council. 

Backon was voted in 6-1, with the sole dissenting vote coming from Brian Irizarry, who had served as mayor since 2022. Backon had served as mayor pro tem for the past several months, replacing Joan Suits after her resignation from the council. 

The mayor presides over council meetings and also represents the council on the city planning commission. 

After the meeting ended, Irizarry congratulated Backon on his election.

Backon said he feels “a great sense of pride” in the position and the city, and said he would continue to work to move Houghton forward.

“I’m very humbled,” he said. “I cannot put into words what it means to me, because I’ve tried to be a dedicated councilperson.” 

Following the vote for mayor, the council unanimously chose Philip Foltz as mayor pro tem. Foltz, who served on the council from 2016 to 2020, was re-elected to the council in November. 

The council also discussed possible changes to its rules of procedure, which will be voted on at the next meeting. 

A suggestion from Irizarry would add a second opportunity for the public to address the council after new business. Current council rules allow for one public comment midway through the agenda after reports from the city manager and police chief. 

Council members split on the value of the extra time. Those who opposed it said it could drag out the end of the meeting, and that most people who would want to comment were driven by items that were already on the agenda.

“People come with something to say, and they do it early,” Foltz said. “If there’s things that they are upset about or want to talk about later, they should get a good night’s sleep, and if they still do in the morning, then they should talk to someone about it.”

Waddell said the council could follow the model of boards like Houghton County’s, where the first public comment is restricted to agenda items, followed by broader comment period at the end.

Cole said the second public comment would let people respond to items that may have been added to the agenda at the start of the meeting, or to the council’s actions during the meeting.

“I think that’s one of the most important things we do is listen to input from the public,” she said. “…I think it’s important that we allow the public to have a second chance to speak in the course of a meeting that they are sitting through.”

Two items gained a consensus. Waddell suggested tweaking the adjournment language to change the mayor’s closing comments from a statement (“Since there is no further business…”) to a question posed to the council.

Cole suggested setting a date and time of March 1 for the council’s annual performance review of the city manager. 

Backon also circulated a list of subcommittee assignments to the councilors to review before the council’s next meeting on Dec. 11.