CAROLINA BEACH — Municipal elections in the Cape Fear region are over and this month new members of local governments are being sworn. In some situations, like in Carolina Beach where Mayor-Elect LeAnn Pierce was already a sitting councilmember who won the mayor’s seat, filling her vacated seat will be up to the new council.
In North Carolina, elected municipal government officials are given the power to select an individual to fill any vacant seats on their board. However, beyond granting this power to local government officials, the state has little say on how — or when — the vacancy is filled.
“A vacancy that occurs in an elective office of a city shall be filled by appointment of the city council. If the term of the office expires immediately following the next regular city election, or if the next regular city election will be held within 90 days after the vacancy occurs, the person appointed to fill the vacancy shall serve the remainder of the unexpired term,” according to General Statute 160A-63.
In situations like that in Carolina Beach, where a sitting member of the board is moving into a new role as mayor, whoever is appointed to serve in that position will hold it for two more years.
Technically, no time frame
So when would a municipal vacancy have to be filled? Well, the law is somewhat ambiguous when it comes to this.
“The statute does not set a time frame within which this must be done. In contrast, the statute directing county commissioners to fill vacancies clearly requires them to do it, and provides for the Clerk of Superior Court to do it if the commissioners fail to within 60 days after the vacancy occurs,” according to the North Carolina School of Government.
Since there is no requirement for filling the seat, in theory, a council could opt to leave the seat vacant until the next election, but this comes with its own set of problems.
“City council members sometimes suggest that they would prefer to leave it to the electorate to choose a new council member – essentially making a decision not to fill the vacancy before the next election. While this may reflect a genuine desire to avoid displacing the public’s opportunity to choose a council member, it opens the process up to manipulation. For example, in the case of an odd-numbered board operating with one less member, a decision not to fill the vacancy increases the role of the mayor in breaking ties. To avoid this, and to provide citizens with the benefit of deliberation and action by the full complement of members called for in the charter, the vacancy should be filled as soon as reasonably possible,” according to the SOG.
But in Carolina Beach, it is apparent that the new board is at least ready to discuss filling the vacant seat at their upcoming December 10 meeting.
Right after the administration of the oath of office for new council members, the board is scheduled to discuss filling the seat.
“Nominations to fill the unexpired council seat vacated by Mayor Pierce will be accepted at this time. There must be 3 affirmative votes for a motion to pass. If the council chooses to go through an application process, they will set an application deadline and a special meeting to review applications. The application review must be held in open session,” the agenda reads.
Since the election was only a month ago, it is commonly suggested that the next runner up who did not win a seat is given the vacant seat — but again, there are no requirements to do so.
In Carolina Beach, if the council were to go the route of appointing the first runner-up, the seat would be given to Steve Shuttleworth, who lost the election by just seven votes. This was by far the most narrow margin in the town’s election.
The elections in Carolina Beach saw five candidates vying for two open seats. Lynn Barbee and Jay Healy took those two spots with 1,149 and 1,016 votes respectively while Shuttleworth ended up with 1,011 votes. The next highest vote-getter received just 281 votes.
As far as what will happen at the December meeting — it’s anyone’s guess, but Councilman JoDan Garza said he has always thought the application process is the fairest way of deciding. But he admitted he is just one of many votes on the council so what the majority decides is not up to him.
For Mayor-Elect LeAnn Pierce, filling her vacated seat is the first thing she would like the new council to do. That is why, once the new council is sworn in, the next item of business is to discuss the filling of the vacated seat.
“At that time if somebody wants to make a motion that all three of us can agree on — if we cannot agree on a candidate then we go to the application process. I do not think it is in the best interest of the town to leave that seat vacant,” Pierce said.
It’s not the only vacant position in the town that needs to be filled — Ed Parvin is currently serving as Town Manager, but the town has been searching for a permanent manager for months now.
That is another reason Pierce said she hopes the seat will be filled sooner rather than later — because that final person who will serve on Town Council should have a say in selecting the next town manager.
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