Harrisville's municipal building has been the scene of some heated discussions about how the council conducts its business. Three members have resigned.

Harrisville Council lost three of its seven members Monday, including its president and vice president.

The three members, President Robert Hovis, Vice President Russell Stemmerich and Jim Fischer, verbally quit during an executive session Monday, Stemmerich confirmed in a phone interview Wednesday. All three had turned in resignation letters by the time the borough office closed Wednesday.

The council plans to elect a new president and vice president during a special meeting Thursday night in the borough office at 117 S. Main St.

The resignations cut the seven-person council nearly in half. If it lost another person, the council couldn't legally hold a meeting. And until a new president is appointed, the borough can't pay any of its bills.

Those three resignations brought the number of recent departures from the council to four.

David Rager, another member and a Harrisville firefighter, quit last month, the borough's office confirmed, though Mayor Gary Hughes said Rager's leaving was only related to his employment hours changing, limiting his availability for the council.

During the same Monday meeting where Hovis, Stemmerich and Fischer quit, the council appointed April Anschutz to replace Rager.

Stemmerich would not get into specifics about why he quit, but he specified that a certain member had motivated his departure. He would not identify the member by name, but said it was a woman who joined the council in January.

Read more about this story in Thursday's Butler Eagle.