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Councilmember Greg Schroeder <br />September 29,2003 <br />Page 2 <br />establishes under what circumstances it will hold a special election other than at the same time <br />as the next regular election. Roseville does not have such an ordinance. <br />Any person that is eligible for election to the vacant office may be appointed. A city <br />council is not required to appoint a person that ran in the last election. A resigning <br />councilmember may not vote on the appointment of his or her successor; however, a <br />councilmember that is elected mayor may participate in the filling of his or her vacated council <br />seat. In the event that there is a tie vote on filling a vacancy, the mayor has the authority to <br />make the appointment without council approval. In doing this, the mayor may choose any <br />person eligible for the office and is not limited to the persons considered by the council. <br />The above summary is an overview of the procedure that is required by state statutes. <br />Specific circumstances may give rise to questions that cannot be answered without knowing <br />the specific facts. Following are some general procedural recommendations based on the law <br />for the benefit of the City and the Council. <br />We recommend that potential candidates for the vacancy not be limited to those that ran <br />in the previous election, but should be open and advertised to the entire community. The best <br />qualified individual may not have been interested at the time of the previous election, but may <br />be interested when the vacancy occurs. <br />We recommend that any vacancy be filled as soon as possible. Therefore, immediately <br />after adoption of a resolution declaring a vacancy to exist, the Council should announce that it <br />is accepting applications from residents interested in filling the vacancy. However, when a <br />vacancy can be foreseen, such as when a councilmember will be moving out of the City or has <br />been elected to an incompatible office, the announcement might precede the actual vacancy. In <br />that way, interested residents can submit applications to be considered by the Council before <br />the meeting so that an appointment can be made promptly after the vacancy is declared. We <br />recommend that a vacancy be filled only by a resident that has sufficient interest in the vacancy <br />to submit a timely application to the City. <br />The Mayor has the sole authority to fill a vacancy when there is a tie vote on the <br />appointment to fill a vacancy. We recommend that the Mayor be the first councilmember to <br />vote on such an appointment. In the event of a tie, we recommend that the Mayor make the <br />appointment immediately after the tie vote is announced and that the appointee be from among <br />the residents that submitted an application to the City. <br />With the above considerations in mind, the following is an outline of how the law and <br />our recommendations would work to fill a vacancy created if Coundilmember Klausing is <br />elected Mayor. <br />