Three people are finalists for the open City Council seat in Carbondale.
In a special meeting Wednesday night, the Council decided to invite Thomas Grant, Navreet Kang, and Ruth Corene McDaniel for interviews.
The three are vying for the seat left open when Don Monty took over as acting mayor. Joel Fritzler vacated the mayor's post earlier this month after leaving for a job in Arizona.
The Council will hold a special meeting next week to interview the finalists, and city leaders expect the open seat to be filled that evening.
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The Carbondale City Council is expected to determine the finalists for the open council seat during a special meeting tonight.
The City Clerk's office say eight people submitted applications by last Friday's deadline. The applicants are former councilwoman Corene McDaniel, retired Memorial Hospital of Carbondale administrator George Maroney, former city staffer Thomas Grant, SIU undergraduate student Adrian Miller, SIU graduate student Brent Ritzel, Navreet Kang, Lorie Allen and Judy Cunningham.
The person selected will fill the vacancy created when Don Monty became acting mayor. Monty and the current council members will review the applications tonight during a closed door session. The public portion of the meeting begins at 7:30 pm at the Civic Center. The council is expected to narrow the list to three finalists. The city council will interview the finalists on February 25th and decide on a person to fill the vacancy. It's anticipated the new city council member will take office on March 4th.
The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce conducted a poll of its members. The Chamber asked which applicant they thought should be selected. Of the 58 responses, former Memorial Hospital administrator George Maroney garnered more than 44% of the survey response followed by Thomas Grant, Corene McDaniel, Adrian Miller, Navreet Kang and Brent Ritzel. Applicants Lorie Allen and Judy Cunningham did not receive any votes in the survey.
