Lansing City Council seat

THURSDAY, FEB. 12 — Business consultant and former journalist Walt Sorg has applied to fill the vacant Lansing City Council seat.

City Council is seeking an applicant to replace former at-large member Derrick Quinney.

Sorg is the only candidate known to have submitted an application.

Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope says he won’t release the names of applicants until the application process is closed.

“Out of fairness to all candidates, I will release the complete list shortly after 4 p.m. on Friday,” Swope said in an email Wednesday evening. He did not respond to emails seeking clarification.

The deadline to submit an application to fill the vacancy is Friday, 4 p.m.

As of noon on Wednesday, Swope said three people had applied. Another person had applied and withdrawn their application, he said.

Sorg submitted his application package to the city Wednesday afternoon.

He provided City Pulse with a copy of his cover letter. In the letter he indicates he is prepared to not only serve the remainder of Quinney’s term, which ends Jan. 1, 2016, but to seek election as well.

Quinney resigned his position last week after being named the new Ingham County Register of Deeds. Council set an aggressive timeline to replace Quinney on Feb. 9. Applications are due by Friday at 4 p.m. On Feb. 18 all the candidates will receive 10-minute interviews with Council. The interviews begin at 6 p.m. That same night, Council will select three finalists. The three finalists will appear before Council on Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. for 30-minute interviews. After the interviews, Council will select the new council member, and on Feb. 23 the Council will approve a resolution appointing the new member to council. The new member will then take the oath of office.

Tina Houghton, Council president, said she agrees with Swope’s decision not to release the names of applicants until after the deadline.

“I spoke to Clerk Swope about this. We thought it was best and more fair for the applicants,” she said of the decision not to release the names of applicants before the deadline. She noted that releasing names before the deadline might provide some applicants with an advantage in lobbying council members for support.

An interesting historic sidenote. As a result of Quinney’s resignation, for the first time since 1956, the city council is comprised of all one gender. For the first time in Lansing history, the council is made up of all women.

Houghton says she is “very, very happy” to be part of Lansing history.

“Being one of those women, it’s about damn time,” she said.