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Mayor Faust stated a special election is not budgeted for, it would take some time, and would be 1 cumbersome in that respect. He explained the information has always been made public. 2 Anyone can apply for this and as far as deciding by the incoming Council is moot point because 3 there is not a vacancy until two of the current Councilmembers are gone. He indicated the new 4 Councilmember will be on the decision-making process. He indicated they had thought about 5 over the years asking people not to run for the seat. He thought about that several years ago and 6 every time after, and felt this is not a good question to ask because who knows what the person is 7 going to do two years down the road. He also explained it is not enforceable and not a legal 8 question to ask someone. As far as the incumbency aspect of it, nothing on any ballot says the 9 person is an incumbent. Only judges in the State of Minnesota get to state that. He stated 10 everybody is open to gender diversity and he thought it speaks for itself. 11 12 Councilmember Stille stated if this discussion is delayed until January 14th and then the process 13 is started, it would be well into February before an appointment would be made. During that 14 time, the Council has its goal setting discussion and it is critical that a new Councilmember 15 would be part of that process. Furthermore, every year there is a newly elected leaders 16 conference held in January with a lot of input so to appoint someone in February and have them 17 miss those to critical events would be a disservice to any new Councilmember coming in and 18 also a disservice to the community. From a timing perspective, he would not support that. 19 20 Mr. Bernard Walker, Councilmember Elect, stated a lot of what was already said are some of the 21 things he was going to bring up. He stated his remaining concern would be that he would not be 22 a part of the interview process. He explained it would be important to him to be a part of that 23 process because he represents St. Anthony residents and if he is going to be on the Council, he 24 would like to have a say in who he is working with. 25 26 Mayor Faust reviewed the timeline with the audience. He indicated Mr. Walker will be involved 27 in the interview and selection process in January. He noted he will remain in the discussion but 28 will abstain during the motion because he will not be a part of the interview process on January 29 8th. 30 31 City Manager Casey stated on January 6th Councilmember Elect Walker will take the Oath of 32 Office that will be done in the City Clerk office to make sure he is sworn in and then on January 33 14th there will be a public Oath of Office during the Council meeting and is ceremonial. 34 35 Mayor Faust indicated he agreed with Councilmember Stille’s comments regarding the training 36 at the beginning of the year and Council goal setting discussion. 37 38 Councilmember Jenson thought the Council goal setting meeting is very important and includes 39 many staff members and contractors that support the city. 40 41 Motion by Councilmember Stille, seconded by Councilmember Jenson, to accept the procedure 42 for filling the City Council position as outlined in City Manager Casey’s memo dated November 43 26, 2019. 44 45 Ayes -3, Nays – 0, Abstain – 2 (Faust, Gray). Motion carried. 46 5