After Santa Maria City Councilmember Carlos Escobedo’s surprise resignation last week, the city is now accepting applications to fill his seat.
But, it’s unclear if that District One seat will be filled before the November election.
Santa Maria Assistant City Manager Chuen Wu says that the city council still has time to decide what they want to do about Escobedo’s empty seat.
“They still need to meet and deliberate on the next steps,” Wu told KCBX.
Wu says the council is scheduled to meet next on Tuesday, April 7, but they might call a special meeting before then. Their options are voting to appoint someone to fill the seat or letting the seat stay empty until the general election in November.
The council also could decide to hold a special election, but that could be tricky to coordinate on short notice.
“The timeline seems to be pretty tight, and then we haven't received any direction from the council,” Wu said. “For the time being, this is the step that we're taking.”
So in the meantime, the city is accepting applications from District One residents who would like to be appointed to hold the position until the next council member is elected.
Wu says they’ll be accepting applications until Thursday, March 26, but there’s no guarantee that the council will pick someone from that application pool.
Some of the items on the application include verifying your address and whether you belong to any civic or community groups.
The application is available online on the “Boards and Commissions” section of the city of Santa Maria website.
