Wilmington City Council to hold interviews for vacant seat

An end to the Wilmington City Council vacancy may be in sight. 

Council members will interview candidates for the empty 1st District seat during a public meeting on Friday, Feb. 15. 

There will be an opportunity for members of the public to weigh in before the council members deliberate on a nominee. 

All the members of the City Council will be on the committee to select a candidate. After a nominee is selected, the candidate will undergo another round of approval in the form of a vote before the full council. 

The process is a revised version of the past vacancy process that had been used at least since 2006.

Wilmington Council battle: Vacancy process changed to include all members

The old process, in which the selection committee consisted only of the council president and four members he or she picked, drew controversy last fall because other members wanted to be included and the meetings were held behind closed doors.

That controversy led to a prolonged conflict within Wilmington's legislative body that has pitted half the council against the other and halted all legislative business.

The seat has sat empty to the ire of 1st District residents after the selection committee's first pick, the outgoing councilman's twin brother, was rejected in a contentious meeting in December.

Some council members in January stated they would not support any legislation while the seat remained empty. On Thursday night, that sentiment appeared gone when members voted unanimously to pass Councilman Sam Guy's ordinance to issue bonds for water main improvements.

It was not immediately clear how many candidates would be interviewed for the seat next week. 

Twelve 1st District residents were interviewed in the fall after then-Councilman Nnamdi Chukwuocha was elected to the General Assembly.

On Thursday, Council President Hanifa Shabazz said the council was contacting the remaining 11 candidates to see if they were still interested. She said they had not yet heard back from all of them. 

During a community meeting in the 1st District in December, some applicants publicly said they intended to withdraw their candidacy to support Subira Ibrahim, a neighborhood planning council organizer.

Ibrahim became the favored candidate among a vocal group of residents and among Guy and a group of council members who opposed Shabazz's handling of the selection process.

Several times, Guy tried to get a resolution appointing Ibrahim to the council floor, but Shabazz has said those attempts were done outside of the city code's outlined selection process. 

The dispute triggered several calls for lawyers to step in. 

The meeting to interview candidates will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the City/County Building, 800 N. French St. 

Contact Jeanne Kuang at jkuang@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2476. Follow her on Twitter at @JeanneKuang.

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