City Council looks to fill Ward 1 vacancy through public vote
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) With a vacancy open in Ward 1 and the General Election two months away, the Missoula City Council will consider waiting an extra month to swear in the ward's November winner rather than appointing a temporary applicant selected by council members.
City Council President Amber Sherrill on Friday told the Missoula Current that council will vote on a resolution next week looking to take that approach, where voters – not elected officials – decide who fills the seat.
“We want to go with what we think the spirit of the law is, which is getting a publicly elected person in as fast as possible,” said Sherrill. “The spirit of the law, in our opinion, is for the public to put someone in that seat as fast as possible.”
Ward 1 council member Jennifer Savage recently moved to Ward 3, making it unlawful for her to continue serving on council. She has filed to run for a seat in Ward 3 and will face Ward 3 incumbent Daniel Carlino this November.
With Savage no longer in Ward 1, two new candidates are vying for the seat, including Elizabeth Craske and Lucas Moody. The winner of November's election would typically be sworn in in January, but with a vacancy now in place, the winner could take the seat in November.
Sherrill said council will consider that option next week.
“We're working on a resolution next week to suspend council rules and place the publicly elected person in in November,” she said. “We're going to seat them immediately so we'll have someone that's publicly elected.”
Eight votes will be needed to suspend council rules and six votes to pass the resolution. If it fails, council members will be forced to appoint someone from a field of applicants. That process would take a full 30 days and the nominee wouldn't be seated until Oct. 6 – less than a month before the election.
“I hope we don't have to do that,” Sherrill said. “The spirit of the law is to get a publicly elected person in as rapidly as possible. That's what we're doing. It makes sense.”
Other issues are also in play including code reform, which looms large on City Council's radar and will shape the community for decades to come. Sherrill said it makes more sense to get a publicly elected official from Ward 1 to join the process rather than a temporary fill-in.
“We have code reform coming in December. There should be a publicly elected person voting on that. It will have long-term effects in our city,” said Sherrill.
While the Primary Election earlier this month narrowed the field of candidates seeking a seat on City Council, it also suggested that some incumbents may face the possibility of losing their seat in the General Election.
In that event, they'd serve the remaining few months of their term as a lame duck and do so as consequential decisions are made on code reform.
“I have to trust that regardless of whether you're a lame duck or not, that you took this job that's not high paying because you want the best for our community,” Sherrill said. “I have to hope and assume that my colleagues look at their job like that, whether they're a lame duck or not.”