What's missing?

April 12 marked the last meeting for progressive city council member and UWEC economics professor Thomas Kemp, who has taken an economist position with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Transportation. He’ll be missed. When a city council member resigns (the last one was Brandon Buchanan), the remaining council members can fill that vacancy “just about any way they want, according to state law,” City Manager Mike Huggins said. However the council has opted for an open application process (resumé) with a narrative portion that asks why they want to serve and a personal introductions at an upcoming council meeting, President Kerry Kincaid said. “We look for voters’ interests as much as possible, since they’re absent from the process,” she added. Based on those three pieces, the council will make their decision in open session. Huggins says the April 26 meeting will be to approve the process, and the May 9-10 or 23-24 meetings will be for the in-person introductions and decision. Find more information on the city’s homepage and Facebook page. This position is for District 3, so all applicants must be from the Third Ward/East Side Hill/downtown area.