Government : Vinton City Council undecided on plan to fill the 4th Ward Seat

With the passing of the 4th Ward Councilman, Nathan Hesson, the City Council discussed the options for filling his seat on the council at last week's City Council meeting.

There was a discussion at Thursday's meeting about which route the council should go. The council has two options. They can either appoint someone to fill the seat or hold a special election. Chris Ward explained that there is money in the budget for a special election which runs about $3,000. Some on the council felt that there should be an election held after the confusion of the last appointment. The mayor said that he wasn't afraid to appoint someone to fill this seat again, while some on the council were hesitant. There was a discussion of advertising to see who would be interested.

According to the City Clerk, the discussion will be put on the agenda for the next meeting, February 11th, as the council made no final decision on what to do.

There are two options for filling this seat. The council can vote to appoint someone to fill the seat, the term for this person would run only until the next election, November 2, 2021. As we saw with the 2nd Ward appointment, a special election can be requested if the council chooses to go this route. A petition would have to be filed within 14 days after an appointment is made, or a notice published whichever is later. A petition would require 200 eligible signatures or at least 15% of the voters who voted for candidates for office on the ballot at the previous regular election, whichever is fewer. According to the number of votes cast in the 4th Ward in 2019, of which there were 107, 15% would be 16 signatures.

The second option would be for the city to choose to hold a special election to fill the seat. Should this route be chosen, the term would expire on December 31, 2023.

Below is a map of the 4th Ward.