gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046
CHAPEL HILL -- So far, five people, including two running for Town Council, have applied to fill the vacancy created by the controversial departure of Bill Strom.
The two candidates that have filed applications for appointment to the vacancy are Penny Rich and Will Raymond. None of the three incumbents in the race for four council seats has filed an application.
The other applicants are H. Brock Page, Joshua R. Ravitch and Joe Capowski.
People must apply by 5 p.m. on Oct. 12 to be eligible for consideration.
When reached Thursday, incumbent Laurin Easthom stood by her decision to not seek appointment to the council.
"There is no arrogance, no presumption that I'm going to finish in the top four," Easthom said. "It's just the right thing and the democratic thing to do."
Easthom explained that incumbents are in a different situation than non-incumbents. For one thing, she said, incumbents have records on which citizens may judge them.
"I ran for office four years ago and won," Easthom said. "I have a record and if I'm not among the top four, I have lost on my record."
In addition, Easthom said she is a part of the process, and doesn't believe it would be ethical to help make decisions about how to fill the vacancy, then turn around and be appointed to the post by her colleagues.
Easthom's take is much different from that of candidate Raymond, who has encouraged all eight candidates in the council race to file an application to fill the vacancy.
Raymond, who wants the council to appoint the fifth-place finisher to fill the Strom vacancy, said if all eight applied it would place all candidates, including the incumbents, on equal footing.
"If all of us do it, there is no possibility that the incumbents would be at a disadvantage," Raymond said.
The council agreeing to select the fifth-place finisher -- there is nothing to bind council members to such an agreement -- is the next best thing to citizens electing the person to replace Strom, Raymond said.
"Let's put our voters at ease and come up with a solution that's close as possible to what would've happened anywhere else in North Carolina," Raymond said.
Easthom, however, believes the council elected Nov. 3 should name Strom's replacement.
"If the fifth-place finisher is someone who applied, then the newly elected council could look at that applicant and act accordingly," Easthom said.
Strom, who has reportedly moved to New York, resigned Aug. 1. Had he done so a minimum of three days before the filing period ended July 17, voters would have chosen his replacement in the Nov. 3 election.
