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Signal Mountain sets accelerated appointment process to fill vacancy after council resignation
Summary
Following Councilmember Eddie Smith’s resignation, the council agreed on a two-week application window, public Q&A and a March 10 appointment vote to fill the vacant seat; charter requires action within 30 days.
The Town of Signal Mountain Council on Feb. 10 accepted the resignation of Councilmember Eddie Smith and agreed to a process to appoint a replacement under the town charter’s 30‑day requirement.
Mayor and councilors agreed to open applications on Feb. 13 and close them on Feb. 27. The council also set a public question-and-answer (Q&A) window running Feb. 13–24; staff will aggregate and forward submitted questions to applicants. Candidates will be asked to submit written answers and be expected to make a three-minute statement at the council’s regular March 10 meeting, when the council intends to vote on an appointment.
Town Manager Matt Justice said staff will post the standard request-for-consideration application used in past appointments. Council members said they would like to receive applications as they arrive. The mayor noted the charter gives the council 30 days to appoint or risk triggering a special election conducted by the Hamilton County Election Commission, which would be charged to the town.
Council members discussed the trade-offs between a special election and appointment: a special election would allow direct voter choice but would be costly and likely have low turnout for an off-cycle race; appointment is quicker and has precedence in recent years. Council members confirmed the appointee would serve until the next regular election (November 2026) per the charter.
The council asked staff to accept applications by email to towncouncil@SignalMountainTN.gov and to post aggregated Q&A and candidate responses publicly before the March 10 meeting to allow citizen review.
Council members also discussed logistics of the March appointment vote (simple majority required) and potential multi-round voting if multiple candidates apply. The council gave the town manager direction to implement the timeline and post application materials.
