A vacant seat remains on the Syracuse Common Council after more than a month of deliberation among Democratic councilors, leaving the possibility that the position may remain open for another nine months.

The seat belonged to former Councilor-at-Large Bill Ryan, who resigned Dec. 31 to take a full-time job in Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner’s City Hall office. A Democratic caucus, made up of the council’s six Democratic councilors, met Monday night to discuss filling the vacancy, but the seat remains open, District 4 Councilor-at-Large Lance Denno, a Democrat, said in an e-mail.

All eight councilors — six Democrats and two Republicans — eventually get a vote when the Democratic caucus makes its selection, said District 1 Councilor Matt Rayo, a Republican. The Syracuse city charter specifies the Common Council must choose a replacement. A majority of five votes is needed to confirm a new councilor.

‘You have to get five people to agree, which is always a difficult thing,’ Rayo said.

Both current Common Council President Van Robinson and Democratic Majority Leader Kathleen Joy were appointed to their posts through special election, Rayo said. Robinson was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2000, and Joy was appointed in 2003, he said.

Joy did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The council received about 30 letters of interest after Ryan resigned, said District 2 Councilor Patrick Hogan, a Democrat. The Democratic caucus soon whittled this list down to fewer than 10 realistic candidates, he said.

Hogan said the Democrats in the Common Council have centered on three candidates to replace Ryan: Phil LaTessa, city auditor; Helen Hudson, head of the Syracuse chapter of Mothers Against Gun Violence; and Neil Driscoll, a former aide to former Syracuse Mayor Tom Young.

But Councilor-at-Large Jean Kessner said the caucus is considering at least six candidates at this point and that speculation on the three is ‘not true.’

‘That is misinformation,’ Kessner said of reports that the council was only considering three candidates. ‘We still have at least six in mind.’

Hogan said he prefers Driscoll as his candidate of choice, and he admits to being adamant — along with the rest of the majority — in sticking to only his choice. Driscoll is the most qualified candidate because of his background under former Syracuse Mayor Young and because he has spent the last 15 years in the Syracuse City School District, Hogan said.

‘In my case, being probably the most obstinate and narrowest of all the councilors, I’m not going to vote for anyone else but my candidate,’ Hogan said. ‘Because I believe he is the most qualified.’

The councilors don’t feel as much pressure to come to a consensus because of Ryan’s status as a former councilor-at-large, Hogan said. Councilors-at-large do not deal as much with constituents in districts and focus more on the bigger picture, he said.

‘I don’t see the urgency as if it was a district councilor,’ Hogan said.

Though the process is taking longer than when Joy was appointed, multiple councilors do not expect negotiations to come to a head anytime soon.

Hogan said there is the possibility the council could leave the vacancy open until elections in November, when the electorate will choose a councilor. But even if the council appoints a new member, that person would have to participate in November elections.

Not filling the vacancy would also save the city money that would go toward a councilor’s salary and benefits, Hogan said. That adds to the lack of urgency, he said. With the current fiscal times, Hogan said he did not see it as bad that the seat has yet to be filled.

Said Hogan: ‘I’d rather make sure we make the right choice than just be pressured into a choice because we feel like we have to make it right away.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on February 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm