The Oak Harbor City Council has booted Mayor Scott Dudley from the Island Transit board for the new year.

On Tuesday, council members criticized Dudley while a handful of audience members asked them to let Dudley stay and berated Councilman Joel Servatius for trying to take a seat on the board during the last IT board meeting.

“I saw a display of childish political grandstanding by Councilman Servatius,” said Jeff Lauderdale, former Island County commissioner candidate, “and I think he embarrassed himself, this council and the city of Oak Harbor.”

The majority of council members defended Servatius, saying that it’s up to the council to decide who represents the city on the IT board, and they wanted Servatius at that meeting.

Several council members also chastised Dudley for visiting the Langley and Coupeville councils to urge their elected officials to change their representatives on the transit board.

“It is not up to us, or our representative, to go around telling other municipalities who they should or should not appoint,” Councilwoman Tara Hizon said.

The council named Councilman Rick Almberg to be the city’s representative on the IT board, which is composed of five elected officials — two from the county and one each from three municipalities. Almberg starts at the beginning of January, leaving Dudley one last IT meeting.

In addition, both Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson and new Commissioner Rick Hannold have said they want to be appointed to the IT board; Commissioner Helen Price Johnson is currently on the board and Aubrey Vaughan is no longer a county commissioner.

It will be up to the Coupeville Town Council and Langley City Council to determine who they want as representatives.