Interim council member Perez appointed and sworn in at Louisa meeting

The Louisa Town Council voted to appoint Mr. Perez as an interim council member and immediately administered the oath of office at the meeting. Mayor (speaker S1) moved to appoint Perez and a council member seconded; the mayor announced that the motion passed.

The council had previously debated how to handle handwritten public comments submitted about the candidate and whether to take questions in closed session. An applicant who spoke during the meeting denied any disqualifying conflict of interest, saying his law firm represents property owners but that he would not favor specific parties. After the appointment, the mayor administered the oath; the sworn text included a pledge to "support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia" and set the interim term through 11/03/2026 as recited at the meeting.

Council members said they would add emailed and handwritten materials to the public record rather than read all comments aloud during the meeting. The council also discussed scheduling for advertising and processing future interim-applicant materials, and staff were asked to proceed with advertising for the open interim seat so that applicants’ materials would be publicly available before any selection.

The appointment concluded the old-business portion of the agenda and council moved on to a scheduled budget workshop later in the meeting.

The council did not record a roll-call vote of named members in the transcript; the chair announced the motion passed and the oath was taken on the record.