The Town of Fountain Hills is asking citizens to submit a letter of interest for appointment to the vacant Town Council seat formerly held by Cecil Yates who has resigned his seat to run for mayor.

Town Manager Grady Miller outlined the process for filling the seat to the council at the June 19 session. Interested residents who qualify as a candidate may submit a letter of interest by Sept. 1.

There will be a public participation element to the selection with a forum open to allow residents to pose questions to the candidates.

The Town Council will interview candidates and ultimately make the decision on who will fill out the remainder of Yates’ term until December 2020.

This is not the first time the council has had to step up to fill a vacancy on the council. This would be the sixth such appointment since incorporation in 1989.

In nearly every instance the same question has come up – why not hold a special election to fill the seat? And in each case the answer has been the same – the process for filling a vacancy on the council is prescribed by state law and the town cannot legally hold such a special election.

State law does give municipalities the option of filling a vacant term until the term expires, or until the next regular election. The town has chosen to write into its code that the appointment be for the remainder of the term.

In two of the five instances an appointment was in close proximity to a town election and candidates were chosen who had at least some level of public endorsement.

In 1993 Rev. Don Lawrence was appointed to the council to fill the seat left open with the resignation of Councilman Charlie Fox. Fox had become embroiled in a controversy when he was accused of removing campaign signs related to a 1992 Fire District race. The case was dismissed.

In 2000, now State Senator John Kavanagh was appointed to fill the Town Council seat of Marianne Wiggishoff, who stepped down when she decided to move out of town.

Wiggishoff resigned in April, between the primary and general elections, and Kavanagh was appointed based on the strength of his showing in the primary election.

In 2002 Councilman John McNeill moved out of state and his seat was eventually filled by Rick Melendez. A twist on this case is that Councilman John Wyman, soon up for re-election, chose not to run again for a full term, but resigned his seat to apply for the remaining two years of McNeill’s term.

Councilwoman Kathleen Nicola died in a boating accident in May 2005. The council chose to leave her seat vacant for nearly a year to fill it after the 2006 election. In the March 2006 primary, Ginny Dickey was the leading vote getter and she was sworn in immediately after the election results were finalized, about two months before she would have taken office the first of June.

In 2009 the passing of Councilman Keith McMahan left a seat vacant and current Vice Mayor Dennis Brown was selected through a process that is the model for the coming appointment.