By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

One of the candidates applying for the Hays city commission seat vacated Jan. 9 by Eber Phelps has withdrawn his name.

According to Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty, Matt Lyon notified the city by email last week that he was withdrawing as a candidate due to unforeseen circumstances that would not allow him time to devote to the position.

The successful candidate is to be named by city commissioners in a special session Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. in Hays City Hall. A commission work session will follow the special session. No action can be taken in a work session, thus the need to call a special meeting for the candidate selection.

State statute requires the appointment of a replacement commissioner within 10 days of the seat being vacated. The process is not defined by the state; it’s left up to a city’s commissioners.

“There’s no public vetting. There’s no public meeting. There’s no requirement for public statements although I know some commissioners have met with the applicants individually, but there’s no state requirements,” Dougherty explained. “The statute is pretty broad on this. It doesn’t state a process, just a time line.”

The new commissioner will be sworn in at the next regular meeting, Thu., Jan. 26.

“The commission will reorganize at that meeting. They typically reorganize every year, where the mayor and the vice-mayor get selected. There won’t be any ‘moving,’ though, because this reorganization already happened a few months ago, with Mayor Shaun Musil and Vice-Mayor James Meier taking over.”

The commission reorganization was different in 2016 because of changes in state municipal election laws. Dougherty said the Jan. 26 reorganization will “put them back on track so now every year in January they’ll do the reorganizations.”

Phelps’ unexpired term is up in January 2018. He is now serving as the 111th District state representative.