St. Cloud City Council to Interview Nine Candidates Monday to Fill Mayor Elect Jake Anderson’s Seat

(KNSI) – Today, the St. Cloud City Council will interview the nine people who applied to fill the seat vacated by Mayor-elect Jake Anderson and could pick one of them to be its newest member.

Anderson resigned his seat in November after defeating fellow councilman Mike Conway for the top office, triggering the process to have a resident fill Anderson’s remaining two-year term. They are, Abdifatah Afrah, Anne Buckvold, Marty Czech, Saharla Diriye, John Allan Dvorak, Melinda “Mindy” Ellingson, John Hirdler, Hudda Ibrahim and Nicholas Lengyel. Buckvold ran in the primary election for St. Cloud Mayor. Ellingson and Lengyel ran in the primary for one of six spots for the three open at large seats but were not chosen as one of the final six. Ibrahim also ran in the primary and did make it to the final six but was not elected to the panel.

The interviews are scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. Candidates will come in one at a time, give an opening statement, answer questions from the sitting council members and give a closing statement.

During the regularly scheduled meeting, starting at 6:00 p.m., the council can vote for a successor. If they can’t get four members to agree on the replacement by December 18th, current Mayor Dave Kleis will appoint someone.

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