New Times / Letter To The Editor

Keep the appointments rolling

Andrea Devitt

While many people assume that a runner-up in a recent election should automatically be appointed to a vacant council seat, historically it’s rare that it happens. In 2010, Dan Carpenter ran for City Council with a strong likelihood that a vacant seat would occur with the election of a new mayor from an existing safe-seat position. Voters had the opportunity to consider that when voting.

A vacancy did occur as a result of the election, and because Dan Carpenter was within 1 percentage point of winning, it made sense to appoint the obvious voters’ choice. It’s important to note it was not a resignation that lead to the vacancy, it was an election.

With the recent events leading to the open council seat vacated by Andrew Carter, the City Council should be looking at filling the seat with a person who will carry on a similar strategy toward governance, thus disregarding the results of the last election as a criteria for appointment.

Please appoint someone like Andrew Carter as much as that is possible.