JOHN DAY — Efforts to fill the John Day City Council seat left vacant by former Councilor Heather Rookstool’s election as mayor ended in a tie at the council’s Jan. 10 meeting.

Under the city charter, when an opening is created on the council, the remaining councilors can fill the position by appointment.

A number of individuals applied to fill the open seat, including former City Councilor Chris Labhart and former Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer.

In the end, the discussion centered around former Councilor Shannon Adair, who finished just out of the running in the November election, and John Meiling, who would be a newcomer to city politics.

Deliberation on the matter ended in an impasse, with Rookstool and newly elected council members Sherrie Rininger and Ron Phillips supporting Meiling and council holdovers Dave Holland, Elliot Sky and Katrina Randleas backing Adair.

The effort to fill the vacant seat was postponed until the Jan. 24 council session, when it will be revisited.

As it stands now, somebody will have to break with their voting bloc to reach an agreement.

The meeting started with the new mayor and council members taking their oaths of office.

Holland, the council president, swore Rookstool in as mayor. Rookstool, in her first official act as mayor, administered the oath of office to Randleas, who was appointed in May to fill the seat left open by the resignation of Gregg Haberly and was elected to a fresh four-year term in November. Rookstool then administered the oath of office to council newcomers Rininger and Phillips, who also won their seats in November.

The council voted unanimously to give Rookstool and Holland the ability to perform certain city manager duties until that position can be filled. The arrangement is identical to what the council authorized for Holland and former Mayor Ron Lundbom on the heels of interim City Manager Corum Ketchum’s resignation.

In other business at the Jan. 10 council meeting, Heather Swank was appointed to fill vacant seats on the budget committee and the planning commission. In both cases the vote was 5-1, with Randleas being the lone “no” vote.

The council also filled openings on various committees.

The public works committee consists of Holland, Phillips and Rookstool. The administrative committee is made up of Rookstool, Holland and Rininger. Rookstool, Randleas and Sky make up the public safety committee. Randleas, Rininger and Sky form the community development committee.

Sky will represent the city on the Grant County Digital Network Coalition, and Philips will do the same on the Grant County Emergency Communications Agency Intergovernmental Council.

The council also voted on one last item, a proposal to sell a plot of land at the airport industrial park to Benjamin Ariff. The motion passed 5-1 with Ron Philips voting no due to concerns about building too close to airports and a lack of time to read documents pertaining to the land sale.

The city council will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17, for an audit review with Gaslin Accounting. The next regular council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 24.