By Jennifer Wilson -

The October 6th resignation of Andy Rodriguez has put the Jackson City Council in somewhat of a quandary. With just three weeks until the November 4th election, the open seat was the subject of a legal discussion at Monday evening’s council meeting. Per government code, the council has three options, including appointing a person to serve the remainder of Rodriguez’s term, which was to expire in November 2010, calling a special election to fill the spot, or leaving the spot vacant until the November 2010 election. According to City Manager Mike Daly, this year’s election would be too soon, as the code states that a special election to fill the spot must be held no less than 114 days after the vacancy was created. The three present council members, Vice Mayor Connie Gonsalves, Wayne Garibaldi, and Al Nunes, all agreed that filling the vacancy was the appropriate and necessary thing to do, and decided to appoint a new member. “City business must go on,” noted Gonsalves. Per the code, the council must do this within 30 days of the commencement of the vacancy, which created a deadline of November 5th, just one day after the election. Marilyn Lewis, who is running for the council, proposed continuing the decision until after the new council is sworn in, but since the council must act within 30 days, that option was not possible, a position that Lewis called, “awfully convenient.” Bill Condrashoff pointed out that it might be a conflict of interest if the current council members were to make the selection, as Garibaldi and Nunes are running for re-election, but the council went ahead with their decision to fill the spot and voted to accept applications for the vacant seat and set a deadline of October 30th at 5 PM. Current candidates will be able to submit letters of interest for the vacant spot as a backup in case they are not elected November 4th. City Attorney Andrew Morris informed those present that the application letters would be contingent on the applicant not winning a council seat.