Dec. 7 - Weeks after contention first arose, newly sworn-in Mayor Mark Chilton announced plans to schedule a special meeting of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen to discuss how to fill the seat he officially vacated Tuesday.
Chilton said the aldermen will meet Dec. 13 to decide how they will go forward with filling the seat. "I don't really know what we'll come up with at the meeting," he said. "It sounds to me like we'll head in the direction of accepting applications."
That procedure was last used to add Alderman Joal Hall Broun in 1998 following the death of Hank Anderson. There have been no midterm vacancies in Carrboro since that time.
Chilton said he hopes the aldermen will hold another special meeting Jan. 31 to make a final decision.
Such a move would delay the decision until after two northern areas will be annexed into Carrboro and would generate a decision before the aldermen's annual planning retreat, which will be held Feb. 6 and Feb. 7.
Former alderman candidates Katrina Ryan, Catherine DeVine and David Marshall, who finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, all have said they plan to apply for the open seat.
And the possibility of an open application process will allow the input of residents who did not run in the initial election.
The procedure for filling the seat has been much disputed since the November election, with different factions advancing varying interpretations of the state and local laws that govern midterm appointments.
Ryan has maintained that, according to her reading of the Town Code, she should fill the seat by virtue of her fourth-place finish in the election.
