http://66.225.205.104/JR20100611b.mp3
Twenty-four people have submitted their names to fill a newly-vacant seat on the Charlotte City Council. Monday night, the council will choose a replacement for Susan Burgess who resigned this week because of terminal cancer. The Charlotte City Council has yet to say what criteria it will use to choose a replacement for Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess. City ordinance says the person must live in Charlotte and be a registered Democrat because that is Burgess' party affiliation. The rest is up to the council and their choice will serve through the end of next year, when Burgess' term ends. Most of the 24 applicants who submitted their names to the city website before the Friday deadline say they have limited political experience, but are eager to get involved in public service. Seven of them are women. Two of the candidates ran unsuccessfully for city council last year - Owen Sutkowski and small business owner Marc Friedland. Another - Jack Flynn - ran in 2007. Burgess said she would like the council to appoint her son Jason to fill the seat. If chosen, he says he will not run for re-election. That is a council custom, though not a requirement. On Monday night, Charlotte city council members will also elect someone from their ranks to be the new Mayor Pro Tem.