Allentown City Council is looking for applicants to fill a vacancy after the resignation of one of its members. WDIY’s Sarit Laschinsky has more.
The council accepted the resignation of Joshua Siegel at a special meeting on Wednesday, and is taking applications to fill his vacant seat.
Siegel, a Democrat, was elected to represent the new 22nd District in Harrisburg. He was elected to City Council in 2019.
According to a release, the council will accept applications to fill the open seat until 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 14, 2022, pursuant to the city’s charter and council rules.
Applications should consist of a resume and a statement identifying reasons why the applicant will “bring value to the city as a councilperson.”
All applications will be public documents, and will be reviewed by the council’s president or acting president to ensure the applicant is qualified.
The council is tentatively scheduled to hold a public meeting the week of Dec. 19 to review resumes and statements of qualified applicants and will conduct interviews in a randomly-chosen order.
Council members will then vote for their preferred candidate, with the votes being read aloud until a candidate earns a majority of the votes.
The charter also requires that the replacement be a qualified voter of the same party as the person vacating the seat at least 30 days prior to the vacancy.
The new member’s term would end on January 1, 2024, and they would be eligible for election in November 2023 for a 4-year term.
Applications should be addressed to City Council and emailed or delivered to the Deputy Clerk at Tawanna.Whitehead@allentownpa.gov. Any questions can be directed to the Council Office at 610-437-7555.
(Original air-date: 12/1/22)
