In the past year, there have been 3 vacancies on Beacon’s City Council. The third is opening at the end of this month when Dan Aymar-Blair resigns to begin his new Dutchess County Comptroller position that he won in a narrow election. If all goes as Mayor Lee Kyriacou wants it to, the Mayor will follow the first step of the City’s Charter by appointing someone, who the Council would then also approve, as they did with the first unexpected vacancy situation in January 2024. But does it need to? Or can an election take place?

In November, City Council Member Paloma Wake requested and recommended that the Mayor announce an application process, and share with the public who the applicants are and why they want to serve. While the Mayor did make an announcement this time, which was only at City Council and has not been posted on the City of Beacon’s home page or Facebook page, he did not agree to making the applicants public. If the Council does not support his appointment, they can consider their own, or move to hold an election.

According to the City of Beacon’s Charter: “If a vacancy in an elective office is not filled by the Mayor with Council approval within forty-five (45) days of its occurrence, the Council shall have the power to fill such vacancy by four (4) affirmative votes of the Council. In the event that no appointment is made to fill the vacancy as hereinbefore provided, the Council may call a special election to fill such vacancy for the unexpired term. Such a special election shall be held no later than ninety (90) days from the occurrence of the vacancy.”

How Did The First 2 Vacancies Happen?

The first two vacancies were due to the unexpected resignation of Wren Longo of Ward 3. Her resignation was a rumor for weeks, and then confirmed by Mayor Kyriacou during a City Council Meeting.

In January 2024, to fill Wren’s resignation, neither the Mayor nor Council opted for an election for another representative. Instead, Mayor Lee shifted over a Council Member to make a second opening. Former Council Member Pam Weatherbee had come out of retirement to run unopposed for the At Large Council position, in part to have a stronger voice in the redevelopment of the communities and streets around Rte 52 known as the Fishkill Avenue Corridor after the Healey Dealership vacated its location there.

Councilperson Pam also lives in Ward 3, but Wren already occupied the Ward 3 seat as Pam ran for the At Large seat. When Wren resigned, the Mayor decided to move Council Member Pam over from the At Large position to the Ward 3 seat, which opened up the At Large seat to someone who could live anywhere.

While it is assumed that applicants for the Ward 4 seat need to live in that area, it does not seem to be specified in the Charter about how to temporarily fill vacancies. A Little Beacon Blog has reached out to the Mayor and City Administrator Chris White for confirmation, but received no response, as Chris has a no-response policy to all questions posed by ALBB to any department head after ALBB published an anti-discrimination article on the City’s policy. ALBB also emailed the City Attorney Nick Ward-Willis of Keane and Beane, and also received no response.

During the first vacancy situation in January, instead of opening a call for applications, Mayor Lee announced that he begged former Council Member Amber Grant to come out of retirement to fill the spot, saying that no one else was qualified.

But, two community members had tried running during that election: La Star Gorton who ran as an Independent having missed the Democrat deadline to be considered to primary (which would have versed her against Molly Rhodes in Ward 1). La Star’s impetus for running was her experience living in Tompkins Terrace, and wanting that community more represented.

The second candidate was Reuben Simmons, a longtime Highway Department employee who announced his candidacy for Mayor a week before the election as a write-in candidate, and earned 16% of the vote. Normally, the write-in spot on the ballot receives 1% of the vote, if that.

Mayor Lee proposed to move Pam over from the At Large seat she ran for, to Ward 3, and to bring Amber back to At Large. The Council agreed, and city business moved on.

So What Will Happen This Time?

With this 3rd vacancy, the same process is about to happen, with no public review of the Mayor’s appointment. At the request of Council Member Paloma Wake, the Mayor has agreed to be more open about taking applications, but not about making them public, as Council Member Paloma requested. Mayor Lee also reaffirmed his strong preference for appointing someone who had already been elected in the past, which severally limits the application pool from new talent emerging.

Mayor Lee said at the 12/2/2024 City Council Meeting: “I'll probably take applications for the next week. Probably the following week I'm going to remind people one more time, and then we will just shut them down.” No reminder came during the following week’s Workshop Meeting.

He continued: “I will choose from that list. I've already had people express interest. You all are welcome to do that. I'd love to have 150 interested. I will say and I said this last time, that I have a decided preference for people who have served, who have run for office in contested elections. I think that makes you much more aware of the community and aware of the role up here. Doesn't mean that is the only criteria, but is a decided preference.”

If the Council does not approve of the Mayor’s appointee, and if they cannot or will not decide on who to appoint amongst themselves, the Council Members can opt to have an open election for the public, per the City’s Charter.

Applicants are encouraged to email bswanson@beaconny.gov or send to the Mayor at mayor@beaconny.gov. Applicants may want to CC each Council Member, to ensure their applications is seen.