Council tabs Medin for 5th Ward seat

The Jefferson City Council has a new member, though he'll only last three months.

At the City Council meeting Monday, council members approved the nomination of Ron Medin to the open 5th Ward seat. The seat has been vacant since Ralph Bray resigned Wednesday to take up his new position as Cole County recorder of deeds.

Medin is a former 5th Ward councilman who left the council in April 2011 after serving two terms.

Fellow 5th Ward Councilman Larry Henry made the motion to nominate Medin, as well as suspend city code to allow him to be seated Monday. The code specifies a procedure to fill council vacancies, which includes a "public session" to be held between the nomination and vote to allow the public to meet and ask questions of the nominees.

City Attorney Drew Hilpert said the council has the authority to suspend the code to seat the nominee without a public hearing.

Henry's motion was approved 8-1, with 4th Ward Councilman Glen Costales casting the sole opposing vote. Costales said his vote was not against Medin, but against the suspension of city code.

"We could've done this in two weeks," Costales said.

Henry said since there is only three months before a new council person is elected and sworn in, the city needed someone who already knew the ins and outs of serving on the council.

"It was just a perfect match," Henry said.

Because the 5th Ward seat is up in the April election, council members had previously indicated that they hoped to wait until filing for city offices ends Jan. 20 before making any nominations. In November, several council members said they preferred not to nominate a candidate running for the 5th Ward seat if there was a race, so they wouldn't appear to endorse one candidate over another.

As of Monday, only one candidate, Mark Schreiber, has filed for the open seat.

Hilpert has said waiting until the end of filing, which ends Jan. 20, to even start the process would have meant that any appointment would only serve for about two months before the April election.

Because of that time constraint, council members had discussed finding a candidate willing to serve who agreed not to file for the seat.

Medin said because of personal and professional obligations, he is unable to serve a full two-year term, but was glad to be able to step up and fill a void even if it is only for a short time.

"I've always enjoyed working with people," Medin said.

Medin noted he'd have to temper his enthusiasm for initiating new projects as he was not elected by the 5th Ward residents and will not serve for long.

In other business, the council approved a resolution honoring former Cole County Presiding Commissioner Marc Ellinger for his years with the county. The resolution noted the cooperation between the city and county, and Ellinger's efforts to improve that relationship while in office.

"We can't succeed apart from each other," Ellinger said.