Council delays action on filling new seat
Seventh member added by passage of Proposition 1 may wait until November election.
The Pflugerville City Council voted to wait to take action on filling a newly created council seat brought forth by the passage of Proposition 1.
Mayor Jeff Coleman said council members had a lengthy discussion in executive session on filling the council seat. Voters on Nov. 8 approved an amendment to the city’s charter to add a seventh council member, allow the mayor to vote on agenda items and have the city manager set the council agenda instead of the mayor.
Council members could choose to leave the seat vacant until the next election cycle in November 2017, appoint someone to fill the spot until that election or call a special election before November 2017.
Council Member Wayne Cooper made a motion to table the item until newly elected council members joined the council. Mayor-elect Victor Gonzales and Place 1 Council Member-elect Doug Weiss were sworn in during a special ceremony Tuesday at the Pflugerville Justice Center.
Cooper said the new mayor and council member should weigh in on the decision to fill the new seat.
“The mayor ( Jeff Coleman) and myself are going off and we shouldn’t have any part of that. We’re both kind of lame ducks, I guess.”
There was no further discussion on the item, and all council members voted to table the discussion except for Council Member Mike Heath, who voted against the motion.
Heath said because voters approved adding a new seat, giving the mayor the right to vote and having the city manager set the agenda all in one package, he wanted to start the discussion of filling the new seat and begin scheduling an election for the new member.
He said he’s received feedback and letters from community members saying they do not want the seat to be filled by appointment.
“Everyone wants to see that position to be filled through election, and I wanted to give people the comfort that that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
It makes sense to wait until the next November election to fill the seat, he said, which could save the city money by not holding another special election. In August, the city held a special election and subsequent runoff election for the Place 2 seat, which former Council Member Brad Marshall vacated after announcing his candidacy for mayor.
Heath said there is a good working relationship between council members, and there’s no pressing need to fill the new seat. “I have a feeling that the consensus will be that we’ll move to an election,” he said.