Advice on filling the current City Council opening

Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Wolfson’s vacated seat must be filled quickly now that he has become Clark County district attorney. Any unnecessary delay will leave Ward 2 residents without representation.

But our next council member shouldn’t be selected hastily, either.

We just finished a recall election in Ward 6. A special election in Ward 2 would cost an unbudgeted $65,000 — that’s one less city employee to serve our citizens. We don’t need more layoffs.

It would also take considerable time to allow candidates to be vetted by the media and get their message to voters. Meanwhile, Ward 2 wouldn’t be represented.

A hastily called election wouldn’t allow time for the candidates and media to properly inform voters. Nearly eight years ago, in the last Ward 2 special election, Mr. Wolfson received just 1,380 total votes. That’s out of 35,267 registered voters. This decision is too important to be decided by so few voters.

Sitting council members are rarely challenged. Generally, only state-mandated term limits or serious misdeeds prevent council members from re-election. An appointee would likely be re-elected with little or no opposition, and voters would never really get to choose their representative. That decision would be made for them undemocratically by representatives from other parts of our city.

The best option has worked in other wards — appoint a qualified person on an interim basis. The appointee must agree not to seek re-election. Our residents will have immediate representation until 2013, when voters will choose their representative in a full-turnout election with full media scrutiny and proper campaign preparation.

Lorraine Puzia

Las Vegas