[THREAD]

Friends, I'm sad to have to tell you that, as of tomorrow at midnight, my colleague Vernetta Alston ( @vernettaalston) will no longer be a member of the Durham City Council. This thread is about how we’re going to appoint her successor.

For the second time since I joined the Durham City Council, we face a vacancy on our elected board. This time, the vacancy is for the Ward 3 representative on the council.

Our city charter requires that we try to fill the vacancy by making an appointment, so we're going to do that by following the process laid out in our city rules for filling a vacancy on the city council.

On Monday, April 13, the city clerk will post online what's called the notice of vacancy (Friday, April 10th is a city holiday) which will contain information about the appointment process.

The notice will also be published in local newspapers, and the city will also issue a press release with information about the appointment process. The clerk will also make available online the application and the questionnaire for applicants to fill out online.

Anyone who cannot fill out the application and questionnaire online will be directed to call the clerk's office to arrange for delivery of paper copies (and subsequent pickup of completed any completed applications and questionnaires) using safe social distancing methods.

All materials (including the notice of vacancy, the application and the questionnaire) will be provided in English and Spanish.

Applications and questionnaires will be due 10 days later on Thursday, April 23. The city council will select 3-7 finalists during a special virtual meeting of the city council on the morning of Monday, April 27.

The city council will conduct online or phone interviews with those finalists at a special virtual meeting of the city council on the evening of Thursday, April 30.

The city council will vote to appoint one of the finalists as the new Ward 3 representative on the Durham City Council at our regularly scheduled meeting on May 4, and that appointee will be sworn in at that time.

All applications and questionnaires will be made available online for public review and comment, and all meetings described above will be broadcast in the same way that this week's council meeting was broadcast…

… on the Durham Television Network, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and a handful of other platforms.

As we move through this process together, Durham residents should share their thoughts about the prospective applicants for the Ward 3 vacancy by emailing the entire council at [email protected] or calling (919) 560-4396 to leave a phone message.

All emails and messages will be provided to council members at every step along the way.

The city clerk will also establish a special web form on the city website for residents who want to provide public comment to the council about the prospective applicants, and those comments will also be provided to the council.

And of course all throughout this process, folks can email me directly at [email protected], and can call or text me on my cell phone at (919) 407-9758.

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PS — Here’s the photo that was supposed to accompany the first tweet in this thread. Sorry!