BELMONT — Village Council on Thursday welcomed two new members following the resignations of councilmen Dan Scott and Shaun Bruce.

Mayor Ron Woods announced that Scott had submitted his letter of resignation in late April and that two residents had submitted letters of interest to fill the vacant seat.

Councilwoman Lorie Grob spoke in praise of Scott and his service to Belmont, “Dan’s done a really good job for us, and we’re going to miss him. He really cared a lot about this town.”

Village Solicitor T.J. Schultz pointed out that Scott had been the only member of council who did not resign when former mayor the late Stan Sobel was elected in 2015. Scott’s term expired on Dec. 31 of that year and he did not seek re-election. However, he did attend the first meeting of 2016 and agreed to be appointed to council after all other members and the fiscal officer quit.

After council voted to accept Scott’s resignation Thursday, Council President Mike Murphy made a motion to nominate Zachary Kalo to fill his seat; council unanimously approved.

Once Kalo was sworn in and took his seat with the other members of council, Woods said he had another sad announcement to make, saying that Councilman Shaun Bruce was selling his house and would be moving out of the village and was therefore resigning from council as well.

Bruce, who previously served as council president for a portion of his six-year tenure on council, was frequently active and outspoken during council meetings and often offered the decisive take on whatever issue was at hand.

Before council voted to accept his resignation, Bruce commented: “I just wanted to say thank you. I’m proud of our six years here.”

Grob thanked Bruce for his service, saying, “We appreciate all the help that you’ve given at all the events. Hopefully he can still be involved somehow.”

Grob then nominated John Rigoli, who had submitted the second letter of interest to fill Scott’s vacant seat, to instead take the seat being vacated by Bruce. Council again voted unanimously in favor.

Meanwhile, Fire Chief Bob Mills announced that the Belmont County Health Department would be offering free COVID-19 vaccinations at the Belmont Firehouse from 10 a.m. to noon May 25.

It was also announced that a memorial service for Sobel, who died in December after a long battle with cancer, would be held at 2 p.m. May 23 near the playground that was dedicated to him on the Belmont school grounds in January 2020 as the first official act of Mayor Woods’ administration.