Change Vacancy Appointment Process

There are many ways city council's across the United States appoint replacement members to fill vacancies.  The most popular methods are: 1) the body fills the vacancy as Toledo does now, 2) the next highest vote getter.  In order to remove the political backroom deals known too well by Toledoans, COBRA suggests amending the city charter to fill vacancies on Toledo City Council with the next highest voter getter.

Why?

The current vacancy appointment process allows “The Party” too much power to manipulate the appointment to their best advantage, and not that of the citizens.

In order to represent the will of the people, choices and options must be removed from “The Party” and returned into the hands of “The People.”

Any election involving candidates for office generates a list of preferences, represented by the votes cast in that election by “The People” and prioritized by the order in which the candidates for each office finished.

Logically, if an office becomes vacant during that term, “The People” have already expressed their preferences for the successor with their prior votes, and the next highest vote getter is their choice, if the original office holder cannot finish this term in office. 

If, for some reason, the list of succession as enumerated by “The People” becomes inadequate to fill the vacancy, then the next successor for the position should be chosen at the earliest election, which not only fills the position for the balance of the unexpired term but also generates a new list of succession in the process, thereby keeping the decision where it belongs, in the hands of “The People.”