The Santee City Council should be looking at a new face on the council next month.
With one seat left open after City Councilman John Minto was elected mayor in December, the council decided this week to announce the job opening and interview candidates.
The council has until Feb. 12 to fill the seat, or call for a special election.
The estimated cost for a special election in Santee, said City Manager Marlene Best, would be more than $300,000.
Applications are available on the city’s website and at City Hall, and will be accepted until 5 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 23. The City Council will conduct interviews of qualified applicants at its 7 p.m. meeting Jan. 25.
The vacancy covers the rest of Minto’s two-year term that ends in December 2018. Applicants must be registered voters at least 18 years of age, living in Santee.
In the November election, Minto beat fellow City Councilman Rob McNelis by more than 1,800 votes in the race for mayor. Randy Voepel, the longtime Santee mayor, was elected in November to the Assembly in the 71st District.
Voepel took over for termed-out Assemblyman Brian Jones, a Santee City Councilman from 2002-2010.
Jones, who served as an Assembly member from 2010-2016, was one of four people at Wednesday’s meeting who expressed an interest in the open seat.
Jones has announced his plan to run for Senate in 2018, but told they council he first wanted to pursue filling the short-term local position.
Others at the meeting who said they will apply for the open seat were Dustin Trotter, Dawn Gibbs and Arnold Winston.
Trotter ran in November for another open council seat but lost to Stephen Houlahan. Mason Herron came in third.
Trotter, a small business owner, said he had not planned to speak to the council on Wednesday, but was coaxed to do so by Houlahan. Gibbs is a businesswoman and longtime community volunteer, Winston is a retired court administrative officer and Navy veteran.
McNelis, who kept his council seat after the election, did not vote for the application/interview process. He agreed with several other speakers who said they thought the City Council should appoint the second-place finisher from the November election.
“We had three candidates who put their name out there, put their life out there for all to view, and that takes a certain type of character, a determination,” McNelis said.
He said that he knew from experience that sometimes a wrong choices are made in hiring people “just because their application looks great.”
