At Monday’s meeting, Council Member George Cianciolo argued for a delayed vote as the Chapel Hill Town Council considers appointing someone to fill the vacant seat.

“I’d like to see that we have a full council when we vote. We’re missing one council member tonight, and that’s why my motion is that we take the vote next Monday,” said Cianciolo.

Donna Bell was the council member absent from the meeting. Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt threw out Cianciolo’s motion, but the council did not pass a motion to take a vote.

The item will appear again on the May 11 meeting agenda so the council could appoint someone at that meeting.

To be precise, the Chapel Hill Town Council delayed deciding on whether to decide on a candidate to fill the vacant council seat, at Monday’s meeting. To explain, the council agreed on a two-step voting process.

First the council will vote on whether to select someone for the seat. If the council votes to select someone, council members will each cast a ballot to choose one of six applicants.  If one of the candidates gets five votes, he or she wins.

On Monday, the council delayed the first vote.

During the public comment period, a few people expressed support for applicant Amy Ryan.

“She is intelligent, rational and fair-minded,” said Laura Moore about Ryan. “She has the experience to understand Chapel Hill’s tough development issues. We need her expertise on our town council.”

Others endorsed applicant Michael Parker.

“He’s been at every meeting I’ve ever been to – committees, town council,” said Lynne Kane. “And some nights, when I’ve stayed home to watch the town council on TV, I saw that Michael Parker was in the audience. He really has a deep understanding of what would be good for all of Chapel Hill.”

The May 11 meeting will be held at 7 pm at Chapel Hill Town Hall. According to the town code of ordinances, if the council delays a vote again, the agenda item will come back at the next meeting. And it will keep coming back at subsequent meetings until the council appoints someone or citizens elect someone.

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