Timelines

Well, it's a start:

Palmeri said he hoped to have the new member selected by the first or second council meeting in May.

That's an entirely possible target date. It would certainly give the council enough time to choose a qualified candidate, but we're not so sure it would give the rest of the public time to ruminate on the matter. We want this taken care of no later than the end of June (but that's just us), so we're willing to extend the council some leeway here.

The real question here is whether the council can fill the seat by the end of May. That could prove to be more difficult.

Just a couple quick points about the article. One, this line needs some clarification:

A special election would cost the city $21,000, said city Clerk Pam Ubrig.

Is that a special election held in November or one held earlier, or is there any difference at all?

Second, does the NW have the phone numbers of council members King and McHugh? Neither of them appear to have been contacted regarding their thoughts on the matter for this or previous articles.

One suggestion: I'm not a big fan of "charticles" but in this case a simple chart or graphic that outlines what each council member believes is the proper course of action (and maybe which alternative(s) he or she finds unacceptable) might be very helpful.