After a lot of discussion Council decided that they alone would chose the person to fill the position left vacant when Stephenson, Stisted, Port Sydney councillor Chris Zanetti suddenly quit at the end of January and they would choose that person from a pool of qualified applicants.
Councillor Bob Stone seemed to convince most councillors that this was the route to go when he said, “Brand new situation. Brand new day. Open it up.” Prior to that a lot of councilors were leaning toward the idea of appointing one of the three runner-up candidates from the last election to the position.
The motion to appoint from an open field of candidates passed with only Councillors Alcock and Weibe voting against the motion.
A call will go out to interested candidates who will be required to submit an application form. The application deadline is April 10. A special meeting of council, which the public is encouraged to attend, will be held on Thursday April 16 at 6pm at which time all applicants will be given time to speak. Council will vote later that evening on the replacement. In the event of a tie, the person(s) receiving the fewest number of votes will be dropped from the race and councillors will vote again.
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