The Fairfax Town Council on Thursday voted to fill two newly vacated elected offices — town clerk and town treasurer — by appointment and authorized staff to open an application and interview process.

Town Manager Christine Foster told the council the town had received two resignations late in December: an elected town clerk resigned effective Dec. 11, 2024, and an elected town treasurer retired Dec. 23, 2024. Foster reminded the council that California law requires a jurisdiction to either appoint a replacement or call a special election for certain elected vacancies within a defined timeframe. She said the town’s legal advice and county elections staff had confirmed that a mail-ballot-only special election option does not apply to these two offices and that the next full special election date that would accommodate the offices (with both mail ballots and polling places) is November 4, 2025. Staff estimated a special election could cost in the tens of thousands of dollars and leave the positions unfilled until the vote.

Foster presented two options: (1) open an appointment process immediately, using a short application and interviews scheduled at the Feb. 5 regular meeting to meet statutory timelines; or (2) direct staff to place the positions on the ballot for a special election, with the attendant higher cost and the positions remaining vacant until election day. After a public comment period in which residents urged either appointment or an election, the council voted to appoint replacements and to direct staff to run an application and interview process. Foster said staff would return with a draft application and interview schedule; the council requested a short timeline so interviews and any appointments could be completed within the legal window.

The motion to appoint the vacancies passed on a recorded vote. The council instructed staff to advertise the application, review candidates, hold interviews at the February 5, 2025 regular meeting, and make appointments to fill the remainder of the current terms (which run through December 2026). The council did not appoint particular individuals at the meeting; those interviews and any appointments will be handled in the next month.

The council and town attorney also discussed the distinction between the elected town clerk (an unpaid, elected role whose statutory duties are recorded in the town code) and the town’s paid deputy/employee town clerk positions; the deputy town clerk is a staff role and is not a separately elected office. The council asked that staff provide the council with the town code sections that define the elected clerk’s duties and to circulate the draft application before public posting.

The vote to fill the vacancies by appointment carried on the council floor with a recorded roll-call vote in favor by the full council present.