The San Ramon City Council is set to gather Wednesday for a special meeting following their regular Tuesday session which saw the swearing in of new members, leaving a vacancy in one of the four council seats as a result.
The ascension of Mark Armstrong to mayor, who was elected to a four-year term in the District 2 council seat in 2022, leaves a gap in the five-member body.
According to the city’s municipal code, the council has 30 days after Armstrong is sworn in to either fill the seat by appointment or call for a special election, which would be required to occur no less than 114 days following the decision.
Regardless of whether the new councilmember is appointed or elected, they would take the seat only for the remainder of Armstrong’s term, and be required to run for reelection to a full-term should they want to stay in the position beyond December 2026.
The new councilmember would be required to be a resident of District 2, which encompasses the southwestern quadrant of the city from Montevideo Drive to the border with Dublin and is bound by the hills west of Westside Drive and Dougherty Road.
Applicants or candidates for the seat are also required to be registered voters in the district and be U.S. citizens.
Should the council opt to fill the vacancy by appointment, they would have until 30 days from that decision to select an appointee.
If the council chose the special election route, they would be required to adopt a resolution calling for the election at their Jan. 14 meeting in order to meet statutory deadlines.
While a special election would allow for a more thorough vetting process and additional time, the process would mean a longer period of time with a vacancy on the council, and place the governing body at the risk of tied votes with only four voting members until the election. The next established election date on which the decision could be made is May 6.
Further, a special election is projected to cost between $159,335 and $210,033, according to a staff report prepared for the upcoming meeting, compared with no cost for the appointment process.
If the council opts to fill the vacancy by appointment, applications would be open for eligible residents through Jan. 3 at 11 a.m., followed by two special meetings for the council to decide on the appointee. If it opts for a special election, city staff would return to the January meeting with a formal resolution calling for the election.
The San Ramon City Council is set to meet at 5 p.m. on Wednesday (Dec. 11). The agenda is available here.
