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Council delays decision on filling Pam Murphy’s vacant seat, staff warns 30-day deadline
Summary
City staff told the Mount Sterling City Council the written resignation of Council Member Pam Murphy is effective at this meeting and the council has 30 days to appoint a replacement; the council agreed to table the selection process until the end of the agenda to consider options including a committee or appointing the next-in-line candidate.
The Mount Sterling City Council on Wednesday reviewed options for filling the vacant seat created by Council Member Pam Murphy’s written resignation and agreed to temporarily table the selection until the end of the meeting.
A city staff member told the council that under the city officials legal handbook Murphy’s resignation becomes effective at the next regular meeting and that the council “has 30 days to fill this” before the authority to appoint would shift to the governor. The staff presentation also noted the next scheduled council meeting is 28 days away, narrowing the window for the city to act.
Council members discussed several lawful options for filling the vacancy, including appointing the “next” candidate from the prior election, forming a committee to solicit and vet applications, or allowing individual council members to nominate candidates. Council member Roger Barnes described past practice in which the council often offered the seat to the next-highest vote-getter in prior elections but acknowledged the council has not always followed that approach.
Several members said a committee could give the council a structured way to hear applicants’ goals and qualifications; others expressed concern about making a hasty appointment for the remainder of the current term (about 14 months until the next election). When a council member asked whether the council could meet in closed session to discuss candidates, staff replied that closed-session authority for employee matters does not apply because prospective appointees are not city employees.
The presiding official proposed tabling the item until the end of the agenda “so without objection, we’ll table this item until the end of the meeting,” and the council did not object. The vacancy discussion will resume later in the meeting with the council deciding whether to appoint a successor, form a selection committee, or take another lawful route.
Key procedural details provided to the council included the effective date of the resignation, the statutory 30-day appointment window, and the fact that failure to fill the vacancy within 30 days would shift appointment authority to the governor.
