A vacant seat on the Lemon Grove City Council will be filled by appointment rather than a special election, council members unanimously agreed Tuesday.
The vacancy was created when then-City Councilmember Alysson Snow was elected mayor in November, leaving her council seat vacant. An appointee will serve the final two years of her term.
City staff members had recommended selecting a new member by appointment rather than a special election, which was estimated to cost between $250,000 and $500,000. Coronado and Encinitas also have indicated they will do appointments rather than special elections to fill vacancies on their city councils, Lemon Grove City Manager Lydia Romero said.
During discussions Tuesday, council members agreed they would like to fill the vacancy as soon as possible.
The application period will open Thursday and close 5 p.m. Jan. 23. Interviews are expected to be conducted at 6 p.m. Feb. 4 at the regular City Council meeting. If appointed at that meeting, the new member will be sworn in Feb. 18.
Staff members presented the council with several options for selecting a new council representative. They agreed to the option that will have them write up to three of their choices in order of preference on a slip of paper that will be given to the city clerk to tally.
Romero said in a small city such as Lemon Grove, council members are likely to personally know some of the applicants, and the secret ballots will avoid any hard feelings about where the votes fall.
Other options included having a show of hands from council members as each applicant name is read.
In an unlikely, but not completely unheard of scenario, another option would have been to draw straws if the four-member council could not pick a new member.
The council also had options about how to interview applicants, and they selected a hybrid of the three options before them. Each council member will have two minutes to ask questions, and each applicant will have three minutes to give an opening statement.
Interviews will be conducted in an open session, but applicants will wait outside during the process so they will not hear the questions and answers in advance.
