Minutes of the New Market Town Council Special Called Meeting Monday, May 5th, 2025 6:30 p.m. The New Market Town Council met in the Council Chambers of the Arthur L. Hildreth, Jr., Municipal Building on Monday, May 5th, 2025, with the following members present: Mayor Peter Hughes, Peggy Harkness, Janice Hannah, Scott Wymer, Daryl Watkins and Bob King. Mayor Hughes opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. He stated that he was saddened to see Council Member Bompiani resign from council. He stated that this meeting was to address the process moving forward to fill the vacancy, and that he had the understanding that the time frame was short. He asked Mr. Garrison to explain what the deadlines are and the process to fill the now vacant council member position. Mr. Garrison explained that the closed session on the agenda is in case they wanted to discuss potential candidates, but the meeting tonight was to discuss the process. Mr. Garrison explained that according to state code, the Town must take in applications for interested candidates and that there is a 45 day deadline to appoint a candidate to council and if we are unable to do sO the courts will appoint someone and that deadline is June 13th, 3 2025. Since Mr. Bompiani resigned before 90 days of a general election, there will be a special election in November for his seat. Mr. Garrison stated that for a general election the deadline to apply is June 17th, ? 2025. He stated he will find out ifthere is a different date once he speaks to the voting registrar. With this he stated that we are tight on time, and he would advertise starting tomorrow about the vacancy. He noted that state law requires that the interested candidates be announced publicly, and this would be done at the May council meeting. He noted that the documents submitted by the interested candidates must be available for the public and will be the night of the announcement. Mr. Garrison stated that the council could go into a closed session at the end ofthe council meeting to discuss the candidates; however, council is not allowed to appoint a candidate until seven days after the announcement. Council is allowed to interview candidates, which they could do the last week ofMay and then make an appointment the first week ofJune and still be within the deadlines. This is the draft timeline that meets all the deadlines. Mr. Garrison asked the council what they would like for applications to turn in for review. His recommendation would be to require a letter of interest from potential candidates. Mrs. Harkness agreed with the letter ofinterest, and then ift they want more information, they can get that during the interview. A discussion of what information should be in the advertisement in reference to the letter of interest. Mr. Hughes stated that Mr. Garrison's draft timeline of all the deadlines looked good to him. Council and Mr. Garrison discussed dates for interviewing candidates. Mrs. Harkness moved to go into a closed session in order to discuss the hiring or appointment of specific public officers, appointees, or employees, as authorized by section 2.2-3711(A)() of the state code. The subject matter is the appointment of a specific public official. Mrs. Hannah seconded the motion and with no further discussion the motion passed on the following 5-0 roll call vote: Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Aye Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye Mr. Wymer Aye Mr. Watkins made a motion to return from Closed Session and read aloud the following Certification Resolution: With respect to the just-concluded Closed Session and to the best of each member's knowledge, (i) only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under The Virginia Freedom ofInformation Act and (ii) only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the meeting by the Town Council. Mr. King seconded the motion which passed on the following 5-0 roll call vote: Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Aye Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye Mr. Wymer Aye Mayor Hughes adjourned the meeting at 7:11 p.m. LL Mayor Peter Hughes - N. Garrison, Town Clerk